Abstract
M.Com.
Increasingly, tourism has been recognised as playing a substantial role in several developing economies,
including that of Zimbabwe, despite the political instability that has been experienced by the country in
recent times. The purpose of this research was to examine the perceptions of residents towards the
impacts of tourism development in Bulawayo. The resident perceptions towards tourism impact were
measured by means of a 5-point Likert-type scale comprised of 38 variable items that were classified into
8 constructs (positive economic impacts; negative economic impacts; positive sociocultural impacts;
negative sociocultural impacts; positive environmental impacts; negative environmental impacts;
evaluation of tourism impacts; and general impacts). A questionnaire survey was used to target n = 384
residents with the aid of trained fieldworkers, using a stratified random sampling technique. The data were
analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Overall, in terms of
profile, the study found a higher proportion of women than men, within the age range of 18 to 85 years
old. Most had lived for between 10 to 40 years in Bulawayo. They were mostly married and, besides
English, were found to speak both Ndebele and Shona, being indigenous languages of the country. The
study revealed that the respondents were engaged in low-income jobs, despite the majority of them being
relatively well-educated. Very few of them work in the tourism sector and are involved in the
planning/decision-making in tourism in their area. Consequently, their understanding of what tourism
constitutes, and their knowledge of the subject, can be described as fair. Overall, their perceptions were
found to be positive, although a few areas of concern did emerge. Administration of the statistical test for
difference, in terms of the demographic variables and the perception items, revealed significant statistical
differences and similarities. The study makes a significant contribution towards existing scholarship
analysing resident perceptions of tourism in the Zimbabwean context.