How community-based tourism can survive in turbulent environments The Mahenye CAMPFIRE project, Zimbabwe

Abstract

Governments in Southern Africa have embraced the concept of community-based tourism (CBT) in their tourism development agendas, as a way of ensuring that rural communities benefit from local resources. Furthermore, the governments have been promoting the concept as a way of incentivising rural communities to participate in natural resources conservation. In Zimbabwe, the government introduced the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) in the 1980s to facilitate effective participation of rural communities in the tourism industry. This chapter highlights the challenges and conditions for survival for CBT operating in turbulent environments, using the case of the Mahenye community project in Chiredzi, Zimbabwe. The project’s resilience is notable in the face of a volatile political and economic climate.