Abstract
M.A.
In contemporary times, tourism has acquired a significant place of importance in enhancing the socio-economic and environmental status of the countries of the world. A key pillar in the development of any tourism destination globally is the tourism offerings that it fosters. The range of tourism offerings at a destination defines the destinations’ attractiveness and competitiveness, as well as the tourism experiences involved. Tourism stakeholders at a destination level have the mandate to plan, develop, market and manage these tourism offerings in such a way that promotes sustainable tourism development. The purpose of this study was to determine the stakeholders’ views on tourism offerings in Harare, Zimbabwe, with a view to proposing a framework of recommendations, based on the findings, on the planning, policy and strategy implementation undertaken by the relevant governmental organisations towards the igniting of tourism development in Zimbabwe. A stratified random sampling technique was used for the residents, and a total of 246 questionnaires was administered. In terms of the tourists involved, the respondents were surveyed using a convenience sampling method, with a total of 223 questionnaires being administered. For the ten key stakeholders interviewed, the researcher employed a simple random sampling technique in relation to the tourism business, and a purposive sampling technique for the tourism authorities. The results obtained in the study were based on the views of such stakeholders. The quantitative data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS), and qualitative data were analysed through contextualising the generated views from the key informants.
The views of the stakeholders were found to be generally negative. While the residents indicated a lack of community involvement in tourism development of Harare and highlighting that tourism is not developed to cater for their needs, tourists ranked the tourism tourism offerings of Harare as of low quality and rated these offerings as equally essential priotities in the tourism product development. The key respondents lamented that there is underulisation of tourism resources and a weakling infrastructure, coupled with variables such as political and economic environment negatively influencing tourism development in Zimbabwe. With regards to the above, the study recommended that a comprehensive tourism policy for Zimbabwe’s tourism, as reflective of all stakeholders’ views, interests and concerns, be developed with the guidance of stakeholders from a successful tourist destination. The study proposes that future research be undertaken to complement the current study, as well as to add to the existing limited amount of literature on the importance of urban tourism and stakeholder views in terms of tourism development.