The socio-cultural impacts of tourism on people’s quality of life in Maun, Botswana

Abstract

Tourism in destination areas has socio-cultural impacts on host communities. The impacts can either improve the quality of life or degrade it. The purpose of the present study is to examine the relationship between socio-cultural impacts of tourism and community people’s quality of life in Maun, Botswana. Primary data were collected from 400 households who were 18 years or older and have stayed in Maun for at least a year at the time of the study. The data were analysed using structural equation modeling with AMOS 16.0 software. The model tests were based on the covariance matrix using maximum likelihood estimation. The results of the present study reveal a significant positive relationship between tourism socio-cultural impacts and the community people’s quality of life. This means that the people’s quality of life in Maun is influenced by the perceived socio-cultural benefits that may accrue to their community from tourism. These results indicate that if tourism is to meaningfully benefit host communities and improve their quality of life, then it must create positive cultural identity and community pride, encourage local involvement in tourism enterprises and improve the socio-cultural benefits of tourism to the host community.