An Assesment Of The Impact Of Crime On Coastal Tourism: The Cases Of Nungwi, Kiwengwa And Matemwe Coastal Areas Of Zanzibar.

ABSTRACT

The study aimed at assessing the impact of crime on coastal tourism along the coastal areas of Nungwi, Kiwengwa and Matemwe in Zanzibar. The questionnaires, interview, and focus group discussion were employed to assess the social economic activities as well as the impacts of crime rate along the coastal areas. A total of 98 participants who were randomly selected were involved in the study of which 34 were from Nungwi, 32 from Kiwengwa and other 32 from Matemwe. The results of the study show that there has been a substantial level of crime within the coastal areas. However, the rate of crime mostly occurs along the coastal areas of Nungwi and Kiwengwa while in Matemwe the situation is a little bit different. The existence of crime along the coastal areas is associated with the existence of several groups of young people without employment, increase of drug abuse, as well as poor relations between local people and tourists or foreigners in the areas in question. Furthermore, the results show that the government uses various ways to fight crime. The study found that crime along the coastal areas has the following negative impacts on the tourism industry: decrease of trust between local people and tourists or foreigners; increase in costs to investors in the maintenance of security by employing private security guards; as well as, decrease of the economy of local people because they are not allowed to sell their commodities along the coastal areas. In addition to increasing community participation, it is recommended that the police patrol system be strengthened in order to fight crime along the tourism coastal areas.