Abstract:
The role of tourism in rural livelihood enhancement continues to be a subject of
debate among academia and practitioners. This study delves into this debate by
assessing the experiences of residents who have adopted tourism as livelihood
strategy in Wli, Ghana within the context of the sustainable livelihood approach.
A case study design with a qualitative approach was adopted for the study. Data
was obtained from 38 study participants between November and December
2016. Twenty-seven (27) of them were engaged in tourism-related livelihood
activities in the community and the remaining eleven (11) were representatives
of institutions/organisations involved in tourism governance in Wli. Findings
from the study showed that tourism has provided livelihood diversification
opportunities for residents in the community especially in the areas of
accommodation and food and beverage operations, guiding services and
souvenir trade. The nature of the tourism-related livelihood activities enabled
the residents to transfer their existing skills and knowledge. Furthermore, it
emerged that these opportunities have positively contributed towards the
achievement of residents’ livelihood objectives. Nevertheless, there was weak
institutional support for tourism-related livelihood activities in the community.
In addition, there were challenges with access to credit and unhealthy
competition and mistrust among tourism enterprises. The study therefore
recommends that the Hohoe Municipal Assembly, the Ghana Tourism
Authority, community level institutions and other relevant stakeholders provide
more support for tourism-related livelihood activities in Wli in order to
strengthen tourism’s effectiveness as a livelihood strategy in the community.
