Ecotourism governance in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review

Abstract

Ecotourism is gaining traction as a veritable approach to biodiversity conservation and livelihood sustenance in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The success of this approach rests in part, on the governance architecture of most states in SSA. However, empirical evidence on this subject is fragmented. This shades possibilities to frame conceptual and methodological questions to advance ecotourism governance literature. This study undertakes a review of the literature on ecotourism governance in SSA, using the PROFOR governance assessment framework as analytical lens. Content analysis, descriptive and inferential statistical methods were employed to analyse 54 published empirical articles on ecotourism governance. The results indicated that studies conducted in Southern Africa (38%) and East Africa (30%) account for close to 70% of the literature on ecotourism governance in SSA. Participation was the most studied ecotourism governance principle (96%), while efficiency was the least (15%). Kruskal-Wallis test statistic showed no significant variation in the study of ecotourism governance principles in the different sub regions of SSA. Methodologically, most of the studies have either employed qualitative (50%) or quantitative (33%) approaches, with few studies employing mixed methods (17%). Future studies need to prioritize mixed-method approaches to study principles such as efficiency and equity in the analysis of ecotourism governance. Equally more empirical research studies should be undertaken in the West and Central Africa sub-regions in order to paint a better picture of the state of ecotourism governance across sub-Saharan Africa in general.