Terrorism And The Vulnerability Of Tourism In Tanzania: A Case Study Of Urban West Region In Zanzibar

ABSTRACT

Currently, terrorism is the one among the major problems affecting global economy, human security and life in general. One of the most affected sectors in the economy is tourism. The study intended to focus on the vulnerability of tourism sector in Tanzania to terrorism taking Urban West region of Zanzibar as its case study. Like any other country in the world, Zanzibar tourism is also being affected by terrorism, because of the existing threats all over the world and some incidences that have been happening in the country and in some of the neighbouring countries. The study had four specific objectives which were: To reaffirm whether tourism sector in Tanzania is vulnerable, To identify manifest terrorist acts in the tourism sector in Tanzania, To establish whether the terrorist acts have adversely affected the tourism sector and To find out whether the government revenue and employment opportunities in the sector have declined .The study had a sample of 70 respondents obtained through random sampling procedures. The methods employed for data collection were interview and questionnaires whereas the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data management and analysis. The results of this study show that tourism sector is vulnerable to terrorism as there is a decline of government revenue and employment opportunities due to the existence or threat of terrorism. Meanwhile apart from its existence, it (terrorism) does not adversely affect the sector. It is recommended that the government should take into consideration all proposed measures for combating and eradicating terrorism in order to secure the tourism sector from its threat or vulnerability to it