Browsing by Author "Akonaay, Bura Ama"

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    An assessment of the utilization of museums in promoting domestic heritage tourism in Tanzania: a case study of National Museum of Tanzania
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2013) Akonaay, Bura Ama
    The contribution of museums in promoting domestic heritage tourism in Tanzania has been given little attention by tourism practitioner. Museums as an institution responsible for heritage collections have been left outside the main tourism stream, despite their importance in the promotion of domestic heritage tourism in Tanzania. This study, carried out in selected national museums of Tanzania, intended to add to the existing body of knowledge concerning the use of museums in promoting domestic heritage tourism by examining different types of museums existing and marketing strategies used by different museums in Tanzania as well as assessing the adequacy of the marketing strategies and the challenges that the national museums of Tanzania face in promoting domestic heritage tourism. The study employed qualitative approaches of data collection so as to get deeper insight of the study interest. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 70 respondents. The study used key informant interviews, focus group discussion and observation methods during the collection of primary data and documentary review for secondary data. Four research questions were used to study the utilization of museums in promoting domestic heritage tourism in Tanzania, although there is a positive trend of visitation specifically school students who use museums as a learning resource, with few adults visiting museums despite the diverse marketing strategies. This is because national museums are mainly focused to schools as their main customers, as well as the institution itself being faced by critical challenges which lead to its failure to promote their services adequately to different segments of Tanzania population. The study concludes that museums are widely used as an effective way of promoting domestic educational function of tourism instead of domestic heritage tourism. Finally, the study recommends that, in order for the national museums of Tanzania to successfully contribute to the promotion and consequently to the development of domestic heritage tourism in Tanzania, it should first address the critical challenges it faces in promoting museum services.