Community participation in the development of ecotourism: A case study of the mole National park

Abstract

Government acquired the Mole Park and its surrounding region from the rural dwellers for protection, over three decades ago. The present generation of local residents (i.e. the descendants of those who released the land to government) are disgruntled and strongly feel that they have become victims of an inappropriate and unpopular acquisition of their land. The main objective of the study was to assess the extent and nature of community involvement In the rural development initiatives of the Mole National Park. To generate data for the study, different sets of structured and non-structured questionnaires were used to collect data from 280 local residents (including 27 community Elders), 39 tourists and 30 park employees. The local residents and the Park employees were randomly sampled, whiles the tourists (both foreign and domestic) were purposively chosen to answer the questionnaires. Participatory techniques such as Focused Group Discussions (FGDsj, Community Interviews (CIS), and direct observations were also used to generale data from relevant organisations, including the Park Management. West Gonja District Assembly, Ghana Tourist Board, and from a number of distinguished individuals.