Tourism Development and Host Communities’ Perceptions: The Case of Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe

The paper assesses the extent to which the impacts of tourism development in Mana Pools National Park affect Mukwichi community's perceptions towards tourism and tourism development. Qualitative research methodology was used to investigate the impacts of tourism development on host communities and their effects on the community's perceptions. The findings revealed that, besides losing control over their resources, the communities are incurring losses with no compensation, are not involved in decision making and therefore have negative perceptions towards tourism and tourism development. The study concludes that managing impacts and improving park-community relationships can increase local support for tourism development. The study suggests that the park should take initiative to change community perceptions by employing a bottom-up approach to tourism planning and development, encouraging community enterprise through Community Based Tourism Initiatives, training and education of the host communities and having a compensation scheme in place to cater for community losses.