Paper short abstract:

This paper examines power negotiations by local residents in community tourism in Uganda. Issues of power and governance are rarely understood and conceptualised in community managed tourism enterprises. Yet Power is indispensable in the success of these enterprises.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines power negotiations by local residents in a community based tourism enterprise in Bigodi, Uganda. It highlights the political dimensions of development practices by emphasising the role of power in the negotiations of who participates and their level of participation in the community based tourism enterprises. Local governance has been promoted as an essential element of development in rural remote areas particularly those adjacent to National Parks in developing countries. The literature highlight the merits and importance of the concept of participation in tourism management and planning. However, issues of power and how participation is defined by the local residents and the individuals who lead the governance of the local tourism enterprise, are rarely understood and conceptualised. Drawing on an ethnographic study, a community tourism lens is used to understand how power engenders or distorts governance. KAFRED in Bigodi presented a good case to study how the local people negotiate the issues of power, and how this in turn influence governance. The natural area of tourism in Bigodi is directly owned by the community; and tourism is developed and managed by the local people. Naturally one would assume that the leadership encourages wide community involvement in the decision-making process and equitable sharing of the benefits. However, as this study discovered, though there are benefits derived from the good governance of the community tourism enterprise, but there are also power constraints that hinder community involvement and equity in a locally owned tourism project.