Assessment of the role of tourism activities on coastal resources management: a case of Nungwi and Kiwengwa, Zanzibar

This study assessed the role of tourism activities on coastal resources and environmental management in Zanzibar. The study examined influence of tourism activities particularly on beaches in regard to current environmental management and practices. Two shehias, namely, Nungwi and Kiwengwa were purposively selected for this study. Moreover, probability sampling procedure was employed whereby 97 households were selected for structured household interviews. Thus, employed data collection methods for the study included documentary review, in-depth interviews and observation. Lastly, both quantitative and qualitative data were analysed to provide answers to the research questions. Findings from this study revealed that tourism development in Zanzibar has resulted to both positive and negative environmental impacts. Furthermore, findings indicated that the negative impacts outweigh positive environmental impact. Among the noted negative impacts they included damage of coral reefs, disturbance of aquatic life, pollution and over exploitation of ground water. Moreover, 99 percent indicated an existing interaction between local community and tourism activities. The related activities include employment in hotels, hand crafting, petty trading and tourist travel agencies. Also, several resources such as coral reef, sea grass, sand beach, sea weeds and mangrove forests were found in the study area. Development of tourism activities and increasing population resulted to degradation and declining coastal forest stock mainly by cutting for fire wood and building materials including construction of hotels. It was also noted that 79 percent of respondents have been benefiting from tourism activities, however, the overall benefits go to foreign investors. Besides, there is potential for improving coastal resources and environmental management in the study area due to presence of multiple stakeholders cutting across from public actors, private sector, civil societies and local communities. It was also noted that the current level of coastal resources utilization can affect sustainability of tourism activities. In order to improve costal resources and environmental management in the study area, the following strategies are suggested: make it mandatory for all proposed projects to undertake Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), all hotel owners and workers should be educated on essence of having implementable environmental policies and public education should also be regularly provided to facilities’ owners for improved environmental management.