Interaction, Institutions and Impacts of Tourism on the Bishoftu-Modjo- Hawassa Route, Central Ethiopia

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dc.contributor.advisorNoble, Hugo (PhD)
dc.contributor.advisorNigussie., Taye (PhD)
dc.contributor.authorZeleke, Tesfaye
dc.date.accessioned2018-06-14T12:58:36Z
dc.date.accessioned2023-11-18T12:16:31Z
dc.date.available2018-06-14T12:58:36Z
dc.date.available2023-11-18T12:16:31Z
dc.date.issued2015-06
dc.description.abstractThe Bishoftu-Modjo-Hawassa tourist route bestows enjoyable natural and cultural tourist attractions both to domestic and international tourists. It hosts lakes, hot springs, parks and cultural events that uniquely epitomize tourism phenomena in central Ethiopia. A seemingly simple tourist-local contact, that takes place in and around the attraction sites, opens windows of opportunities to forge short- and long-term relationships between tourists and locals. As a result, the central thesis of the dissertation deals with the examination of tourist-local interaction, social exchange relations, local tourism institutions and resultant impacts on the residents. The empirical assessments elsewhere in Ethiopia and the circumstances on the route have conferred the paucity of sociological research on tourist-local interaction, social-exchange relations, institutional interventions and impacts. This study borrowed the pragmatist research philosophy that advocates ontological and epistemological mixes in an effort to explore and minimize the gaps noted on the empirical knowledge. As an extension of the pragmatist philosophy, the research strategy employs the triangulation of quantitative and qualitative methods. As mirror to the methodological triangulation, the analysis has followed a convergent design that combines descriptive and inferential techniques with the themes emerging through qualitative explorations. A mix of the tenets of Interactionism, Social Exchange Theory and Theories of Modernity [global cultural flows and risk thesis] deployed to carry out the analysis of concepts, facts, numbers and themes, which proliferate as arguments. The propositions of these theories have witnessed their practical relevance in the investigation of tourist-local interaction, social exchange practices and impacts. Besides, the developmental perspective and ideology adopted by the Ethiopian government provided insights to the policy and strategic discussions pertaining to the operation of tourism institutions and the phenomena of tourism on the route. The findings of the research revealed that the natural tourist attraction settings on the Bishoftu-Modjo- Hawassa route constitute the spots where tourist-local interrelationships emerge and take distinctive forms. The emerging interrelationships pave the ground for intercultural exchanges that recur between tourists and locals. The intercultural exchanges have involved the circulation of cultural traits, economic assets and lifestyles. Both the processes of interaction and exchange relations have pushed away the ordinary locals to the fringes of experiencing the fruits of interaction and exchange relations. In connection, the roles of the tourism institutions in mediating interactional and exchange practices are either negligible or taken for granted. Poor coordination, limitation of resources and shallow integrations with the wider community are characteristics of local tourism institutions on the route. Based on categorical classifications of the level interaction, the survey result has conferred that the level of tourist-local interaction on the route fell under moderate level i.e. not low or high. The Chi- Square Test of Association run for factors such as gender of tourists, age of tourists, cycles of tourists’ visit to a site per day, locals’ religious denomination, educational attainment of the locals and occupational categories of the locals have shown statistically significant relations, at [α=0.05], with the level of tourist-local interaction. The Multinomial Logistic Regression Model identified that the number of tourists in a traveling group and the educational attainment of the locals are among the significant predictors that distinguished locals who have high level of interaction with the tourists xix from those locals who have low interaction in reference to those locals who experienced moderate level of interaction with the tourists. One of the core findings of the study was the consequences of interactional and exchange practices on the local residents, which took two forms: (a) beneficial, and (b) disruptive. For the community subsegments up front in the interactional ladders, particularly for local guides and service providers, the phenomena of interaction and exchange has continued to create livelihood options, generated employment opportunities, diversified their income sources and boosted their mutual communications with tourists. The Chi-Square Test of Association for each of these variables, in turn, hold significant associations with the level of the positive consequences of tourism on the locals, at [α=0.05]. However, the strengths of their associations were weak. On the downside, tourist-local interactions and exchange practices have affected the sanctity of (a) locals’ cultural traits, (b) their environment, in addition to fueling the spread of social ills such as begging and theft. As a whole, the beneficial consequences surpass the disruptions caused via tourism on the route. The research results implicate on multitudes of issues. Above all, there is a need to integrate efforts towards the mobilization of tourism resources for local, regional and national developments. Secondly, in order to do so, the policies and strategies should align the stronger tunes of the rhetoric with the practices in the local structures and institutions. Thirdly, the results underlined the importance of better coordination and networking among the tourism establishments and major players. Finally, the study results call for strong community-tourism industry linkage in the endeavors to undertake rigorous and applied research. In addition to contributing to the institutionalization of sociology of tourism in Ethiopia, the attainment of these implications would enable harnessing and realizing the potential of tourism for social developmenten_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/12345678/978
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherAddis Ababa Universityen_US
dc.subjectsociology of tourism; tourist attractions; tourist-local interaction; social exchange relations; tourism institutions; impacts; Bishoftu-Modjo-Hawassa tourist route and tourist sitesen_US
dc.titleInteraction, Institutions and Impacts of Tourism on the Bishoftu-Modjo- Hawassa Route, Central Ethiopiaen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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