Evaluating Local Food-Tourism Linkages as a Strategy for Promoting Sustainable Tourism and Economic Development: A Case for Tanzania

Abstract

Tanzania is one of sub-Saharan Africa’s most popular and rapidly growing tourism destinations. Despite high economic growth stirred by fast tourism development, the level of poverty and unemployment is still very high. The rapid growth in tourism which translates into economic growth does not appear to have considerably improved local people’s income and reduced poverty in the country. Involvement of local people in the ownership of tourism enterprises is viewed as an important tool for promoting sustainable tourism, improving local peoples’ income and reducing financial leakage which is caused by importation of goods such as food and drinks from other countries. The main purpose of this study is therefore, to evaluate local food –tourism linkages as a strategy for promoting sustainable tourism, economic development and poverty alleviation in Tanzania. More specifically, the study investigated major challenges encountered by local food suppliers in accessing tourism markets (hotels). Correspondingly, the study investigated major challenges that hotel managers face in dealing with local food suppliers. The study also assessed perceptions of international tourists regarding local foods in Tanzania. The research was conducted by survey from June to August, 2014. The study population consisted of international tourists departing from Kilimanjaro International Airport (n = 520, response rate = 88%), hotel managers (n = 226, response rate = 73.6%) and local food suppliers (n = 240, response rate = 79.5%). Data for hotel managers and local food suppliers were collected from Arusha and Dar es Salaam cities. Research data were analysed by using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with EQS 6.2 for Windows.

The KIA survey results showed that cognitive/perceptual (knowledge and beliefs) and affective (feelings) evaluations are two interdependent psychological constructs, which together play a key role in understanding individuals’ overall perception about local foods. The cognitive/perceptual evaluations formed by individuals as a result of accumulated knowledge and beliefs about local foods influence individuals’ overall perception about local foods. Likewise, the survey shows that the affective evaluation (feelings) that individuals have about local foods influence individuals’ overall perception about local foods. Understanding cognitive/perceptual as well as affective evaluations of a consumer is therefore, extremely important in tourism because it assists in understanding how tourists perceive local foods or a destination as a whole. The results also show that many hotels where tourists stayed in did not provide many varieties of local foods or enough information about local foods. The results from hotel managers’ as well as local food suppliers’ surveys show that lack of operating capital, seasonality of local foods, lack of food handling skills, unstable prices of local foods, low quality and safety of local foods, lack of clear food specifications from hotels and poor road infrastructure constitutes some of the major challenges facing local food-tourism linkages in the country.

The results of this study assist in clarifying the overall international tourists’ perception regarding local foods in Tanzania as well as major constraints facing local food-tourism linkages. The findings of this study may therefore, help practitioners in improving the image of the destination as well as food-tourism linkages in the country.