Community-based tourism as a strategy to advance cultural tourism enterprises for socio-economic development of communities in the northern region of Ghana

Abstract

Community-based tourism (CBT) is a form of tourism that aims to increase community participation in tourism-related activities. It utilizes local tourism resources such as water bodies, mountains, festivals and other forms of cultural practices. This study investigated how community cultural tourism enterprises (CCTEs) can be used to promote CBT and community socio-economic development in Northern Ghana. Purposive sampling was utilized to select a sample of 27 CCTEs that fall under the following broad categories: historical towns and villages, art and craft, cultural profession, spirituality, cultural performance, the hotel industry, cultural cuisine, Atlantic-slave trade villages and talk shows. A qualitative design was adopted, with case studies conducted to determine how the participants could grow their enterprises which will, in turn promote CBT in this region. In-depth- interviews and observation were employed to gather data that were analyzed by means of a qualitative framework which involved coding, familiarization, identification of themes, mapping and interpretation. The study revealed that CCTEs in the Northern region of Ghana are typical of their kind as they are either owned by communities or individual community members. It was also found that involvement in CCTEs is gendered, with women and men running separate enterprises. The participants suggested television coverage, financial and logistic support, broadening market networks, managerial training and tourism promotion as a means to empower their CCTEs and promote CBT in the region. Based on the findings, a policy framework is proposed to achieve these objectives.