College of Humanities

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Browsing College of Humanities by Author "Asubisye, Edwin"

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    Effects of drought on cultural tourism: selected cases of Maasai tourism groups surrounding Tarangire National Park in Tanzania
    (Taylor & Fransis (Routledge), Journal of Tourism & Cultural Change, 2016) Lwoga, Noel B.; Asubisye, Edwin
    This study explores the effect of drought on cultural tourism by applying the case study approach using the Maasai women’s groups surrounding Tarangire National Park (TNP) in Tanzania. Semi-structured interviews and observations were used to collect data from 30 purposefully selected Maasai women and 30 tourists. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The findings show that drought affects tourism both positively and negatively. Positively, drought forges unity among individuals, and creates the community’s external links that are crucial for tourism development. Negatively, drought interferes with the development and delivery of tourist products, thus destroying their quality and service delivery. Despite the challenges tourism faces during times of drought, including the scarcity of raw materials for making cultural products, 50% of the respondents would rather continue with tourism as a strategy to curb the effect of drought than their traditional livelihoods. Theoretically, the study shows the importance of the cultural ecology and livelihood lenses in investigating the effects of drought on tourism in a cultural setting. Practical recommendations for tourism authorities and stakeholders, as well as areas for future research, are provided.
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    Implications of Climate Change on Cultural Tourism in the Maasai Land, Tanzania
    (2011) Asubisye, Edwin; Lema, Godwin; Lwoga, Noel B.
    Despite the growing importance of cultural tourism as an alternative livelihood activity and community’s adaptation strategy in localities affected by the prolonged drought, its interrelationship with such prevailing climate change has not been emphasized. Within the culture ecology theoretical framework, this study focused on the Maasai community near the Tarangire National Park in northern Tanzania juxtaposes cultural tourism activities, their production and delivery to the prolonged drought in order to examine its dynamics and sustainability. The study applies hermeneutic phenomenology approaches to study experiences of the Maasai women engaged in cultural tourism business in the midst of the prolonged drought. The findings reveal that cultural tourism is greatly influenced both positively and negatively by the prolonged drought. Although negative perspectives (ranging from the intrapersonal, intersegment and external angles) are more pronounced than the positive ones, the Maasai women would prefer to continue with cultural tourism as an adaptation strategy to curb the effect of drought than their traditional animal grazing or small scale farming. Also, the paper provides recommendations and raises critical theoretical questions on sustainability of cultural tourism in the midst of the ongoing climate change, and its incorporation in the prevailing park management models, policies and business adaptation strategies. Implications of Climate Change on Cultural Tourism in the Maasai Land, Tanzania.