Factors affecting the authenticity and integrity of stone town of Zanzibar world heritage site.

The Stone Town of Zanzibar is a remarkable World Heritage Site on the coast of East Africa. UNESCO inscribed it in 2000 due to the mixture of cultures and harmonization between Swahili, Arabs, Indians and Europeans together with trading activities between Africa and Asia illustrated by architecture and urban structure as well as slavery suppression. In recent years, its authenticity and integrity have been jeopardized by several factors, which hinder sustainability of the historic town and hence, there arose the need for this study. This study assesses three factors, namely, construction materials used in renovating Stone Town buildings, builders’ compliance with the Stone Town Conservation and Development Authority Act Number 4 of 2010 and impact of tourist activities on conservation in Zanzibar Stone Town. Data were collected through interviews (unstructured), observation (non-participant), and documentary review. The sample comprised local community members of Stone Town, heritage officers from public institutions and non-governmental organizations participating in heritage management in Zanzibar. A total of 38 respondents were involved in the study. Findings from this study revealed that, to a large extent, authenticity and integrity of Zanzibar Stone Town have been greatly affected by several factors. Therefore, the study recommends that all players and stakeholders should ensure effective implementation of the law, reduction in number of investments, especially hotels and regular monitoring of ongoing development projects to control various threats, which hinder conservation in the city.