Tourism in Zanzibar: Incentives for sustainable management of the coastal environment

Tourism was identified in the late 1980s as a sector with major potential for driving economic development in Zanzibar and has since grown enormously from roughly 19,000 annual visitors in 1985 to well over 200,000 by 2007. Although tourism is now one of the most important sectors of the economy, contributing roughly 25% to GDP, the impact of tourism on poverty reduction and the environment has been decidedly mixed. The rapid expansion of tourist infrastructure on the coast, combined with a population growth rate of over 3%, has put great pressure on coastal areas. In some areas local villages have seen their access to the beach and sea greatly restricted with resulting loss of livelihoods, while relatively little of the economic benefit from tourism has gone to local communities. The coastal and marine environment is seriously degraded due to both human and natural causes. The paper explores the reasons for this, focusing on the role played by the distribution of benefits from tourism and the (dis)incentives this creates for sustainable management, especially among local communities that steward the marine ecosystem. It does this by estimating the incomes (wages, profits and taxes to local government) generated from five major categories of tourism found in Zanzibar, and quantifying the distribution of incomes among five different stakeholder groups. The resulting recommendations are relevant not only for Zanzibar, but for all developing countries that rely on international tourism.