DETERMINANTS OF HOUSEHOLD PARTICIPATION IN ECOTOURISM ACTIVITIES: THE CASE OF GAMO ZONE, SNNPRS OF ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The primary purpose of the study was to identify the determinants of household participation in ecotourism activities in the Gamo Zone SNNP region of Ethiopia. There were 352 respondents selected to fill the questionnaire. Primary and secondary data sources were used for this study. Primary data were collected through structured questionnaire, key informant interview and focus group discussions. To this end, the author used mixed research approach. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis were used to analyzing the collected data Descrptive statistic was used to describe the socioeconomic and demographic information of the respondents. Binary logistic regression model was applied to identify the determinants of household participation on ecotourism activities. Then,the result of this study showed that out of thirteen explanatory variables incorporated in the model, eleven variables such as gender, marital status, education level, income, community decision-making, distance from the residence, infrastructure, number of times spent in the community, stakeholders’collaboration,funding&subsidies, and perceived environmental impacts were found to be a significant determinant of ecotourism activities in the study area. Where as,age and cultural characterstisc has no effect on hosehold participation.Finally, the study recommends that ecotourism should acquire priority and the government has to apply participatory ecotourism development approaches and strategies to exploit areas of ecotourism development potential to overcome the current environmental, socio-cultural, and economicchallenges through active stakeholder involvement.