The experiences of local communities in ecotourism businesses: A mixed-methods analysis of four local municipalities

This study investigated the experiences of residents of four local municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa.A missed-methods approach was adopted in the form of a questionnaire and interviews.A simple random sampling technique was used to select 204 participants for the quantitative study.A purposive sample of 32 participants was selected for the interviews.The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and ATLAS TI applications were used to analyse data, respectively.The study revealed that most available ecotourism opportunities were accessible to white-owned ventures, though communities in some activities struggled to get a share of the ecotourism pie due to extreme poverty.The findings reveal gaps in both management and coordination of ecotourism activities in the study area.The study concludes that negative experiences of ecotourism practice are higher, partly due to a lack of relevant information, support, and knowledge on how best to capitalize on ecotourism opportunities.