Theses and Dissertations Collection

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://10.10.97.169:4000/handle/123456789/977

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Browsing Theses and Dissertations Collection by Author "Mgonja, J. T."

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    Evaluating Local Food-Tourism Linkages as a Strategy for Promoting Sustainable Tourism and Economic Development: A Case for Tanzania
    (Clemson University Tigerprints, 2015-05) Mgonja, J. T.
    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.
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    Understanding Technological and Managerial Factors contributing on the Performance of Traceability Systems in the Fish Supply Chain, the case study of Tanzania
    (WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY AND RESEARCH CENTER, 2007-08) Mgonja, J. T.
    This thesis starts with two examples of food incidents in Tanzania giving the reader the first insight into how track and tracing systems can be useful both in terms of protecting consumer’s health and in terms of economical repercussions when it is well designed and executed. To ensure the ongoing safety of food along the supply chain, traceability must be built into every step of the process. Traceability systems help companies minimize the production and distribution of unsafe or poor quality products, which in turn minimizes the potential for negative publicity, liability and recalls. The better and more precise the tracing system, the faster you can identify and resolve food safety or quality problems. This is best accomplished through a well designed and executed T&T system. A T&T System that takes into account of the contextual factors during design and execution will ultimately promote the availability of accurate and real-time information to all nodes of the supply chain, from raw materials and component suppliers, to manufacturers, distributors, transportation providers and consumers. The first chapter of this project gives general introduction to the problem and then description of the reasons compelled me to carry out this project (motivation for the study). Chapter two deals with literature review. In this chapter, various models dealing with traceability systems directly or indirectly are fully explored and evaluated on the basis of their validity, reliability and relevance to the study. Chapter three deals with development of the research model, the research model is developed as a result of various models explored in chapter two including IMAQE-Food model developed by Van der Spiegel and co-authors (2003), and traceability system parameters model developed by Kousta (2006). This chapter also deals with development of different indicators which have been used to operationalise the research model. Chapter four is about methodology of the study. Chapter five is discussing the results of the study obtained after the analysis. The result of this analysis is identification of bottlenecks. Chapter six is about assessment of different solutions of the identified bottlenecks. Chapter seven is about general evaluation of the project including conclusions and recommendations. The research conducted in this thesis may be useful to many organisations/companies. It may assist them to understand various factors which are influencing the design and execution of the traceability system and thereby improve the performance of their traceability systems.