Local Community Participation in Tourism Development: The Case of Katse Villages in Lesotho

Abstract

One of the central elements of tourism development is to encourage local communities’ participation as it is the core to the sustainability of tourism industry. While the literature suggests a number of roles local communities could take in tourism development, little emphasis has so far been given to how local communities should participate in tourism development. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of community roles in tourism development by examining the views of the community at Katse area in Lesotho. A combination of stratified and convenience sampling approaches was used for sample selection of 500 households. The initial step involved stratified random sampling; accordingly, the population of Katse was first subdivided into four villages. Convenience sampling was then applied through the selection of each household in the four villages. The findings revealed that local communities want to be involved when tourism policies are being made to enable policymakers to prepare a policy that meets stakeholders’ needs and addresses their concerns. They also want to be part of tourism development decisions to ensure their needs are incorporated.