Tourism business owners understanding of sustainable tourism development in uMhlathuze Municipality
This study sought to investigate and assess the attitude of tourism business owners in the accommodation sector, towards sustainable tourism development in uMhlathuze municipality. The business owners were selected from various accommodation facilities within the uMhlathuze municipality ranging from small scale guest houses to 4 star hotels. It was envisaged that this diversity in the types of accommodation businesses would reflect diverse knowledge of sustainable tourism development. The selection of tourism business owners from a wider age range also helped this study in gathering much information and allowed the researcher to assess various trends and practices promoting sustainable tourism development in the study area. The objectives which were set for the study assisted to accomplish the main goals of the study. The fundamental objectives were as follows: • To investigate if the tourism business owners understand the meaning of sustainable tourism development. • To explore if practices of sustainability benefit tourism business owners in the study area. • To find out if tourism business owners are aware of the sustainable tourism development principles. • To find out if tourism business owners have attended any training related to sustainable tourism development.These objectives were formulated in order to clarify the intention of the study which was to find out the attitude of tourism business owners towards sustainable tourism development. The data was collected through self-administered questionnaires and interviews with both open and closed ended questions. The Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the research data. Based on the analysis derived from the above, it could be concluded that respondents in the study area have a good idea of what is meant by the concept “sustainable tourism development”. The respondents were asked to give examples of what indicates practices of sustainable tourism development, and they gave examples that include: saving and conserving infrastructure, recycling waste, good maintenance of facilities, increase number of tourists, and protected environment. The majority of respondents indicated that sustainable tourism development benefits them in their businesses, through education, economy boost, jobs, conserving of environment, protecting businesses and it also helps them to have a sense of wellbeing. Tourism business owners are aware of sustainable principles and how they are important to them and their businesses. Finally, the tourism businesses owners agreed that there are being educated about sustainable tourism development and they do attend training which is organised by uMhlathuze municipality and KZN Department of Economic Development Tourism and Environmental Affairs (KZN-EDTEA). In conclusion, findings identified that sustainable tourism is important to tourism business owners as it assist them in growing their business and maintaining them for the future generation. Tourism business owners understood that sustainable tourism is not a special type of tourism, but rather all types of tourism must strive to be sustainable.
sustainable tourism development --business owners
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