Gender Issues in tourism industry in Tanzania: the case of selected hotels and Curio shops in Kinondoni Municipality in Dar es Salaam Region

This study investigated the main gender issues in the tourism industry, including its causes, impacts constraints and challenges encountered and measures taken by various stakeholders to addressing such issues. A combination of secondary sources and primary source of data were used in this study. The instruments used for collecting primary data were questionnaires and one to one interview. Secondary data were obtained from different sources including university of Dar es salaam main library and Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB) Library., observation method was used to compliment information from primary sources. Respondents were grouped into two categories, namely category I and category II respectively. Category included workers from curio shops and tourist hotels whereas category II included key information from Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism (MNRT), Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB). Overall a total of 72 respondents were included in the study including 60 in category I and the remaining 12 in category II respectively. Overall, the findings revealed that gender is an of concern in the tourism industry. The study recommends that, it is imperative for employers’ owners of tourist hotel curio shops to develop and strength their knowledge on how to identify and address gender issues in their respective work places. Moreover, the study recommends that to actors such as government through MNRT and NGOs design gender sensitive monitoring and evaluation tools for tracking gender issues in tourism industry.