Bridging community livelihoods and cultural conservation through tourism: Case study of Kabaka heritage trail in Uganda

Abstract

This paper analyses the promotion of culture-based tourism as a tool for cultural conservation and community livelihoods improvement in Buganda region, Uganda. A pragmatic approach was adopted to explore the existing cultural heritage resources in Buganda and their conservation for tourism as a means for community development. Data were collected using documentary reviews, focus group discussions with key actors in the tourism subsector, and a questionnaire interview. Results indicate that culture-based tourism is positively correlated to cultural conservation and community livelihood. The paper highlights the importance of culture-based tourism and culture conservation on community livelihood in the context of Uganda. The significant results obtained in this case study also show that cultural conservation was a strong predictor of community livelihoods. It is concluded that if culture-based tourism is enhanced and promoted, it has the potential to influence people’s livelihoods through the income generated from tourism activities and employment. This in turn contributes to the preservation of cultural heritage sites and hence sustainability. There is however need to investigate the novel and innovative ways of marketing and promoting cultural tourism in Uganda to enable improvement in people’s livelihood. It is also necessary to devise ways on how to increase community involvement in planning, implementation, and securing benefits of culture-based tourism.