IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bcp/journl/v9y2025issue-45470-5478.html

The Socio Political Crises and Implication on the Tourism Sector in the North West Region of Cameroon: Case of Mezam Division

Author

Listed:
  • Neba Yvette Akwa

    (University of Yaounde I)

Abstract

The socio political crises has negatively affected tourism in Mezam Division. The objective of this study is to examine the degree to which the socio political crises in Mezam has affected the tourism sector and the strategies that can be put forth to revamp the sector. Tourism which today has become a major engine of nation building in many parts of the world has not had its place in Mezam Division due to instability and insecurity as a result of the on-going socio-political crises plaguing this region. Primary data were sourced from field surveys through the use of questionnaire and interviews. Using the snow ball sampling technique a convenient number of 50 copies of questionnaire were administered to the five sub-divisions of Mezam that are dominated with tourism activities, (Bafut, Bali, Bamenda II, III, and Santa Subdivisions). Based on fieldwork the first results reveals that, the volume of tourists have greatly dropped since the socio political crises commenced. From 2016 – 2025, the volume of tourists into Mezam has drastically dropped. 66% indicated that few tourists (less than 1000 visitors) are received annually, 28% claim an insignificant number of (lesser that 100) tourists patronize this sector annually. Meanwhile, 6% indicated that many (more than 1000tourists) patronize this sector annually. Secondly, the state of tourist attractions have been negatively affected with a majority of 58% respondents indicating that, many tourist attractions have been abandoned, 32% have partially been abandoned and 10% have not been abandoned. Therefore leading to a redundancy in the sector, this has caused some actors to divert into other economic activities such as agriculture (28%), petite trade (24%), other tourism activities (22%) and gastronomy (12%). The 22% of those that left other tourism activities have diverted into the production of tourists attractions like beads and embroidery. Other tourism operators in the embroidery and beads productions activity have forcefully migrated to other towns like Douala, Yaounde and Bafoussam. Therefore, it is recommend that there should be an urgent call for effective dialogue amongst government officials and leaders of this armed groups so that peace can be restored. Key actors in the tourism sector should develop strategies that will revamp the tourism sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Neba Yvette Akwa, 2025. "The Socio Political Crises and Implication on the Tourism Sector in the North West Region of Cameroon: Case of Mezam Division," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(4), pages 5470-5478, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:9:y:2025:issue-4:5470-5478
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/Digital-Library/volume-9-issue-4/5470-5478.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/articles/the-socio-political-crises-and-implication-on-the-tourism-sector-in-the-north-west-region-of-cameroon-case-of-mezam-division/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Crouch, Geoffrey I. & Ritchie, J. R. Brent, 1999. "Tourism, Competitiveness, and Societal Prosperity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 137-152, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Armindo Frias & João Cabral & à lvaro Costa, 2015. "Logistic optimization in tourism networks," ERSA conference papers ersa15p1451, European Regional Science Association.
    2. Carolina Inés Garcia & Natalia Porto, 2022. "Tourism specialisation and education: Leading the way to better labour conditions?," Tourism Economics, , vol. 28(8), pages 2068-2081, December.
    3. Yang, Yong, 2012. "Agglomeration density and tourism development in China: An empirical research based on dynamic panel data model," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 1347-1359.
    4. Bojan KRSTIĆ & Sonja JOVANOVIC & Tanja STANISIC, 2014. "Central And East European Countries’ Tourism Competitiveness As A Factor Of Their National Competitiveness Level," Revista de turism - studii si cercetari in turism / Journal of tourism - studies and research in tourism, "Stefan cel Mare" University of Suceava, Romania, Faculty of Economics and Public Administration - Economy, Business Administration and Tourism Department., vol. 18(18), pages 61-68, December.
    5. Arie Stoffelen & Dominique Vanneste, 2017. "Tourism and cross-border regional development: insights in European contexts," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(6), pages 1013-1033, June.
    6. E. M. Ekanayake & Mihalis Halkides & John R. Ledgerwood, 2012. "Inbound International Tourism To The United States: A Panel Data Analysis," International Journal of Management and Marketing Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 5(3), pages 15-27.
    7. A. George Assaf & Alexander Josiassen & Haemoon Oh, 2016. "Internationalization and hotel performance," Tourism Economics, , vol. 22(3), pages 572-592, June.
    8. Mehdi Hajilo & Mojtaba Ghadiri Masoom & Seyed Hassan Motiee Langroudi & Hassanali Faraji Sabokbar & Lori Pennington-Gray, 2017. "Spatial Analysis of the Distribution of Small Businesses in the Eastern Villages of Gilan Province with Emphasis on the Tourism Sector in Mountainous Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-19, December.
    9. Oleg PETELCA & Ciprian-Constantin PĂTRĂUCEANU & Veronica GARBUZ & Iurie BEȘLIU, 2023. "Analysis Of Travel And Tourism Competitiveness Index In Eastern Partnership Countries," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 32(1), pages 235-349, July.
    10. Assaf, A. George & Josiassen, Alexander & Agbola, Frank W., 2015. "Attracting international hotels: Locational factors that matter most," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 329-340.
    11. Xiji Jiang & Jiaxin Sun & Tianzi Zhang & Qian Li & Yan Ma & Wen Qu & Dan Ye & Zhendong Lei, 2025. "Defining Rural Types Nearby Large Cities from the Perspective of Urban–Rural Integration: A Case Study of Xi’an Metropolitan Area, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-23, March.
    12. Salinas Fernández, José Antonio & Guaita Martínez, José Manuel & Martín Martín, José María, 2022. "An analysis of the competitiveness of the tourism industry in a context of economic recovery following the COVID19 pandemic," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    13. Carayannis, Elias G. & Ferreira, Fernando A.F. & Bento, Paulo & Ferreira, João J.M. & Jalali, Marjan S. & Fernandes, Bernardo M.Q., 2018. "Developing a socio-technical evaluation index for tourist destination competitiveness using cognitive mapping and MCDA," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 147-158.
    14. Paulo H A Feitosa & Amanda B A Silva, 2022. "Length of stay and satisfaction shaping the competitiveness of international business tourism in São Paulo city, Brazil," Tourism Economics, , vol. 28(3), pages 728-747, May.
    15. Cathrine Linnes & Jerome Agrusa & Giulio Ronzoni & Joseph Lema, 2022. "What Tourists Want, a Sustainable Paradise," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-20, February.
    16. Huang, Jen-Hung & Peng, Kua-Hsin, 2012. "Fuzzy Rasch model in TOPSIS: A new approach for generating fuzzy numbers to assess the competitiveness of the tourism industries in Asian countries," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 456-465.
    17. Ziyu Jia & Yan Jiao & Wei Zhang & Zheng Chen, 2022. "Rural Tourism Competitiveness and Development Mode, a Case Study from Chinese Township Scale Using Integrated Multi-Source Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-17, March.
    18. Muhannad Mohammed Alfehaid, 2025. "Integrating Hard and Green Infrastructure for Sustainable Tourism: A Spatial Analysis of Saudi Regions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-15, October.
    19. Dr. Ruth K. Kimaiga, 2026. "Beyond Regulatory Compliance: Restructuring Tourism Licensing for Destination Branding and Competitive Positioning in Kenya," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 10(5), pages 11179-11198, May.
    20. Gry Agnete Alsos & Dorthe Eide & Einar Lier Madsen, 2014. "Introduction: innovation in tourism industries," Chapters, in: Gry Agnete Alsos & Dorthe Eide & Einar Lier Madsen (ed.), Handbook of Research on Innovation in Tourism Industries, chapter 1, pages 1-24, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:9:y:2025:issue-4:5470-5478. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr. Pawan Verma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.