P LANNING SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY - BASED TOURISM

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less need for goods to be imported and as a result the multiplier effect arguably will be higher. For the multiplier effect to be achieved, Salambala being in a communal area, there must be change in the land tenure system and there must be an integrated approach with other economic (informal, not illegal and formal) sectors without which a leakage effect is likely. This will require support from the central government and a concerted effort to stabilise the political and economic system of the region. See Coltman (1989) for more on multiplier and leakage effects.

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we learn from each other (Q24). Education and knowledge are two aspects that the respondents pointed to when speaking of hosting tourists. As far as some of them were concerned, the process of hosting a tourist is in itself a learning environment. When tourists come they will learn a lot from us, but we will also learn a lot from them, so we like everybody, said the respondent (Q17). After all, hosting a tourist is when you can know what is happening between the country and its people, one male respondent said (Q29).

In addition to income requirements of the host, it appears that there are also social needs at the host place. Opportunities to meet people and learn about them, their lives, to gain new knowledge of different countries and people and to make friends are also part of the personal motivations of the hosts. These non-economic motivations are also acknowledged by Oppermann (1995), Kovács (1998) and were also personally observed in Lithuania in 2001. Of the total respondents only 3.6 per cent said they would not host any tourist no matter what.

It appears that community-based tourism by itself is complex and dictates that the supplier of tourism rather than the seeker should be educated. In addition, the supplier must be directly involved in research in order to understand the natural, economic and social patterns affected by demand. More so, there is a need to understand and integrate these patterns in the overall supply package. If community-based tourism were to be developed in Salambala, it would require a new strategy that would call for change in the local school curriculum and a collaborative approach between various institutions.

Schools, wildlife managers, traditional authorities, fishermen, artists, local NGOs,

Box 3. At Isuswa lives 24-year-old Mwala. He is training to be a teacher at the Caprivi College of Education. In his assessment, Salambala should be used for educational purposes, especially by the local schools. Even though tourism may be an alternative he considers it a lower priority.

During school holidays he works as a part-time worker in Katima Mulilo. As far as he is concerned, even if tourism and employment opportunities were increased in Salambala, people would not change their loyalty to agriculture because we believe in what we do ourselves and we cannot depend on money only. In his view, it is not the introduction of new species that will change the status of Salambala but rather the change in people who are engaged with the Conservancy activities. In case some more animals are introduced, his advice is there must be a proper impact assessment before anything is done…we know poaching is going on…there are also issues of the carrying capacity. Mwala does not have parents; they died a couple of years ago. His elder brother also died three years ago. In addition to the help he gets from relatives, he tries to fund his younger brother’s education by doing part-time work. He strongly maintains the future rests on education.

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business people, farmers, security forces and political institutions have to constitute a working group that could embark on tourism planning and management. Without instituting a stakeholders and interest groups’ forum it is hard to see how community-based tourism can possibly be a potential sustainable option for community development in Salambala.

4.3.1 The definition of a tourist

A tourist is a person with an unknown agenda of travel (Salambala resident)

We have already discussed tourists at great length, but do we really know who/what a tourist is? What is the difference for instance, between a traveller and a tourist? When does a traveller become a tourist? Sometimes it is interesting to hear what rural communities think of tourists, and also I was interested in finding out what the local people’s definition of a tourist is. The majority’s analogy contained the words such as

‘foreign’, ‘money’, ‘animals’, ‘nature’ ‘forest’ and ‘travel’. Figure 4 shows different definitions from Salambala. In the view of some local community members, tourists are those people who go out travelling, investing money and also marketing places they visited in their home country (traditional leader). While they are travellers with lots of money to spend, by watching animals some of them come for study purposes and in return they pay money or financial contribution to the Conservancy (student).

Noteworthy is that the concept seems to be attached to greener environments and finance.

In addition, the community considers tourism to be for people from towns. As far as they are concerned, a tourist is a person who visits places where there are animals, arts and craft items to see (Q49). As travelling requires money, a tourist is a person who travels and visits a lot of areas, it is people with money, one male respondent argued (Q20). What seems absent in the community’s definition of a tourist is the motivation and purpose of visit by a tourist. Furthermore, what is moreover lacking is the quality experience that most tourists would want to have. Tourists do not just travel; they travel because they have a set of specific issues to acquaint themselves with. Furthermore, they

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travel because there are values they attach to the area of destination in relation to how it will satisfy them (Coltman 1989). That satisfaction takes various forms and patterns.

Table 3. A host of definitions of a tourist by inhabitants of Salambala Conservancy It is indeed money that enables people to travel from Finland to Namibia for example, but they are not tourists for that reason. Defining a travellers as tourists according to their financial capability is like defining a soldier as dangerous corresponding to the amour in his possession. Doing so, however, is incorrect because it is not the amour that makes him a dangerous soldier but rather his motivation. Thus, while it is educational or mind-improving to travel, some tourists travel for spiritual, physical, psychological or curiosity reasons. This is one aspect that the local community should be informed about in relation to tourism supply. Since it is not about what the supplier thinks will satisfy the seeker but it is rather about ‘what will satisfy the one in need’. Quality experience is a matter that cannot be ignored in tourism. In tourism management circles, quality experience is used in comparative terms to indicate a degree of brilliance or superiority over services offered in a particular place as opposite of service offered somewhere else

1 1.8 1 1.8 1 1.8 1 1.8 1 1.8 1 1.8 2 3.6 2 3.6 2 3.6 3 5.4 3 5.4 3 5.4 4 7.1 4 7.1 4 7.1 5 8.9 5 8.9 6 10.7 7 12.5 56 100.0 A person who wants to learn and understand more about other

people

Somebody who moves around and camps in forests A person who brings peace to the host place A non-resident of the area

People who go out taking photographs A relative who visits

People from towns, people who have never seen animals and greener environments

A person with a unknown agenda A visitor who comes for tourism purposes

People travelling, seeing places, mainly white people

A person who brings development to the country by buying local products

A person who moves from place to place

A foreigner who spends money on visiting other places to which he or she does not belong

No idea

A person who visits on special occasion but pays for accomodation

A visitor from a foreign place

A person who comes to unknown places for enjoyment or study purposes

Somebody from afar who comes to watch animals and pays for it Somebody from afar with lots of money

Total Valid

Frequency Per cent

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(Gyimothy 2000). Nonetheless, quality experience should be described and interpreted in relative terms so as to ‘fit the purpose’ for which it is designed (Juran 1979). An examination of quality assurance in customer care has clearly demonstrated that if hospitality and tourism business are to achieve a quality system to meet customer expectations, then the provision of material resources alone is insufficient (Sweeney and Wanhill (1996).

A rural development and community project requires a holistic approach. Seldom is this approach followed. The assumption is often that land use, law, politics, regional development and marketing are natural processes that are inherently in place, or what Howitt (2001) criticises as mistakenly thought of as ‘common sense’. However, these disciplines are necessary for one to be able to comprehensively undertake a successful community project. They are important because they affect the implementation of such projects. Therefore, they form an essential component to be integrated in the planning and implementing phases of a community project such as Salambala Conservancy.

There are three basic elements that seem to complement CBT, i.e. nature, economic livelihoods and cultural preservation, and three identifiable types of tourists, i.e.

adventure, culture and ecotourists. Together they would enable the Conservancy authorities to understand and prioritise the motives of tourists’ travel, e.g. physical, psychological, spiritual reasons and so on. These motives together should meet the principles of sustainability, community needs, the disciplines above and the legislation in place. When a systems approach is considered (Jafari 1983), over time community-based tourism can be re-oriented to specific objectives and can be cemented with other land-use plans. A systems approach allows the use of other disciplines in researching, planning, implementing and evaluating CBT.