Home-based Tourism Businesses and Destination Sustainability: A Case Study of Kabale Municipality, Uganda

Home-based tourism businesses (HBTBs) play a critical role in enhancing the sustainability of tourism destinations. The study investigated the relationship between home-based tourism businesses and destination sustainability in Kabale Municipality, Uganda. This research explored the operational characteristics, competitiveness, and influence of government policies on these businesses, examining their contributions to sustainability's economic, social, cultural, and environmental dimensions. The study adopted a purposive sampling technique (Andrade, 2021) and out of the 357 selected samples, 286 presented effectual responses. A cross-sectional research design was adopted, combining qualitative data from surveys and qualitative insights from interviews. The study findings revealed that home-based tourism operations β0.512, competitiveness β0.378, and government policies β0.412 contribute positively to economic, social, and environmental sustainability through employment creation, cultural heritage preservation, and eco-friendly practices. The study results imply that a single unit change in home-based tourism operations, competitiveness, and government policies enhances a destination's sustainability in Kabale Municipality, Uganda. Further, the empirical evidence implied that home-based tourism business operations have the greatest impact on competitiveness and government policies. The study suggested that efforts to enhance tourism sustainability should focus primarily on improving operations and competitiveness, with government policies playing a supportive but still essential role. However, the study also highlighted the challenges related to resource management, infrastructure development, policy support, and community engagement and recommended that there is a need to foster a supportive ecosystem that maximizes the positive impacts of HBTBs on Kabale’s long-term destination sustainability.