ABSTRACT

Residents are an integral stakeholder in any tourism destination and understanding their sentiments on any tourism activity within their locality is very critical. Although local people are the most affected by tourism development at such places, there is a deficit of research on the local communities’ perceptions on the impacts of and changes to their communities due to World Heritage Site (WHS) operations. Thus, the study sought to assess residents’ sentiments towards cultural heritage tourism at Chongoni Rock Art Heritage sites. Data were collected from 35 respondents who were purposively selected from three villages surrounding the WHS. Data were thematically analysed and the main theme that emerged was a lack of community involvement in tourism activities at the sites which has destroyed heritage assets. The findings contribute to the extant literature on local communities’ participation and perceptions of tourism development at WHS. The study recommends residents’ participation as one way of empowering the local community and enhancing economic benefits from tourism.

摘要

居民是任何旅游目的地不可或缺的利益相关者，了解他们对当地任何旅游活动的看法非常重要。尽管当地人在这些地方受到旅游业发展的影响最大，但缺乏对当地社区对其社区因世界遗产 (WHS) 运营而产生的影响和变化的看法的研究。因此，该研究旨在评估居民对 Chongoni 岩石艺术遗址的文化遗产旅游的看法。数据是从 35 名受访者那里收集的，这些受访者是从 WHS 周围的三个村庄中特意挑选出来的。对数据进行了主题分析，出现的主要主题是社区缺乏对破坏遗产资产的旅游活动的参与。这些发现有助于现有关于当地社区参与和对 WHS 旅游发展的看法的文献。该研究建议将居民参与作为赋予当地社区权力和提高旅游业经济效益的一种方式。