Government Collaborative Efforts Supporting Tourism Development in Lesotho

Many countries strive to establish solid collaborations between the tourism industry players with the belief that knowledge brought by diverse stakeholder team will spill-over across the industry to boost collective productivity. This study focuses on exploring the current established government organisations collaborations geared towards tourism development in Lesotho. The study utilised the interprevististic paradigm using the qualitative research approach. The content analysis based on qualitative interviews with various government tourism related organisations reveal that to some degree, there are existing collaborative efforts among local government organisations, local government and international governments, local government and international bodies, and, local government and the local community. The study also identified that current collaborations are geared towards improving tourists’ safety and security, curriculum and skills development, road and air transport infrastructure development, and funding tourism development-related activities. Recommendations for collaborations improvement were presented. Keywords: Tourism, Government Organisations, Tourism Collaborations, Tourism Development, Lesotho

Surviving Amidst COVID-19 Economic Impacts in Tanzania: Learning from Porters and Guides at Kilimanjaro National Park

In Tanzania, tourism industry employed about one million people which is 11.2 percent of total work force in Tanzania. This is due to the fact that Tanzanian is having many distinct natural features that attract tourists such as Kilimanjaro Mountain which is the roof of Africa. Among those one million jobs in tourism industry, porters and guides of Mount Kilimanjaro are included. COVID-19 has impacted tourism industry negatively to the point that the industry was shut down in 2020 and all jobs and employment were cut off. Among the most affected groups are porters and guides in Mount Kilimanjaro their jobs are temporary and depend on seasons. This study sought to explore the economic impact caused by COVID-19 pandemic to porters and guides and the strategies that they used to survive amidst the difficult period of COVID-19 to make a living and fulfill their family’s basic needs. Learning from these porters and guides the study revealed the major negative economic impact they faced was reduction in the individual and family income caused by decrease in the number of visitors due to COVID-19 pandemic. The study further revealed that, there are number of aspects that made them survive amidst COVID-19 pandemic such personal saving, gifts and grants from once served tourists, subsistence allowances from their employers and engaging in other income generating activities such as subsistence small scale farming, sedentary livestock keeping, seeking for alternative employment and engaging in small business and entrepreneurship. The study recommends that porters and guides have to develop some plans that can make them well prepared to cope up with the negative economic impacts that will be caused by any other disasters to the industry in future time. Keywords: COVID-19, Economic Impacts, Porters, Guides

Cultural Tourism in Bangladesh, a Potential and Profound Tourism Destination: Developing a Model for Cultural Tourism Development in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a significant source of many fascinating cultural diversions that can make a fancy trip to many domestic and international tourists. This paper has tried to focus on the cultural tourism of Bangladesh by allocating the facts of historic and traditional culture, cultural tourists’ attraction, prospects, development strategy etc. Moreover, the major concern of the authors is to provide a detailed discussion about the main cultural attributes for the tourist or cultural tourists of Bangladesh. Tourism research methods and cultural consumption are some of the most important aspects of cultural tourism in Bangladesh. The researchers also tried to find out the potential of Bangladeshi culture, the scenario of cultural tourism, cross-cultural connection etc. This research paper is the full exploration of only about cultural tourism sector of Bangladesh. All the related information has been collected from available secondary data sources and the writer of this paper attempts to review all the roles of cultural tourism in Bangladesh. Keywords: Culture, Tourism, Development, Tourists, Bangladesh

Investigating the Responsible Tourist Behaviour in Ecotourism Destination: A Study on Saint Martin’s Island in Bangladesh

Though measuring and monitoring tourists' responsible behavior is considered as a key indicator of assuring Responsible Tourism (RT), it is highly ignored in most of the tourist destinations in Bangladesh. Hence, this research aims at investigating how responsibly the tourists behave in the context of an ecotourism destination, Saint Martin Island, Bangladesh. To address the research aim, this paper follows the quantitative research approach where both primary and secondary data are used. The study employed 18 RT behavioral traits under five broad themes to measure Responsible Tourist Behavior (RTB). The findings show that there exists a positive significant relationship between RTB and behavioral trait themes (environmental, economic, cultural, development and promotional, legal and ethical behavioral traits). It is also found that the tourists are very careless about using usual tourist path, local tourist guide, creating noise and wearing local dresses but they play a significant role for the promotion and development of the destination during their visit. Keywords: Responsible Tourism, Responsible Tourist Behavior, Ecotourism Destination, Saint Martin Island, Bangladesh