Are local residents able to contribute to tourism governance? - impacts and perceptions in Cape Verde

Abstract

Tourism planning and development necessarily entails efficient governance. The structure of such governance system includes the key players in order to ensure that all stakeholders are heard, contribute to the plan and participate in its implementation. This article introduces Cape Verde, a country with significant tourism growth and results, and it focuses on the case study of Boa Vista island. This paper is the result of a 5-year research that applied a mix methodology based on field work and interviews content analysis framed statistically and comprehensively in a mixed method analysis. This study demonstrates that communities are able to identify the negative and positive impacts of tourism development. Boa Vista has a community that is a practical example that locals able to recognize the existing problems and contribute to the future path to sustainable and truly representative development in sub-Saharan Africa.