Browsing by Author "Cameron, Thomas"

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    National parks as economic engines : an overview of economic research methods for a developing country : Case Study : Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03) Cameron, Thomas; Child, Brian; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. School of Public Leadership.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY: The objective of this study is to consider and attempt to better understand the various methods which can be used to measure economic impacts of a National Park to a developing country’s economy. Through large amounts of international research, it is clear that National Parks are valued by stakeholders in a number of ways, with one of them being the economic activity that they generate through various sectors of the economy such as tourism, hospitality, construction and conservation. However, despite the potential benefits of National Parks that are investigated in this study, many governments still do not account an adequate financial allowance through the National Budget when it comes to their maintenance and management. Therefore a greater understanding of the financial transformation to economic outputs needs to be done through research and data capture to raise awareness of their potential impacts to the relevant government bodies. Unfortunately, Zimbabwe has had a very limited amount of primary economic research undertaken since its economic crisis between 2000 and 2010. This information gap is therefore one which needs to be filled through engagement of academic and research based institutions. With this in mind, this study has therefore screened a number of environmentally orientated papers and reports which have an economic impact aspect as part of its outputs. Through this process, 7 papers were identified and analysed based on their research methods and measurable outputs of the data captured. The information from this was then used to compile a primary research methodology in the form of interviews and questionnaires which was trialled within one of Zimbabwe’s largest National Parks. This form of primary data capture gathered information from both tourists and lodge managers within Hwange National Park to determine spending patterns and various demographics which will be produced into various summaries. This will provide information on the positive and negative aspects of the developed research methods which will then be assessed and a second attempt undertaken to determine which methods worked the best. However, due to a number of circumstances, the second survey received no useable feedback and therefore assumptions made from it were done through a sample of participants rather than through actual visitors within Hwange. The outputs and lessons learnt from the study are then used to build a toolkit or guideline to conducting environmental economic research under the specific condition experienced in a developing country such as Zimbabwe. Where possible, the collected data was used to generate economic assumptions such as elasticity, demand, supply chain and financial impacts of Hwange National Park and a few conclusions highlighted on these issues. More relevant is the understanding of where the collected data could actually be used based on the various theories and methods analysed in previous conducted research. The limitation of the various actions undertaken is also highlighted and discussed and is based on first-hand experience when undertaking primary research. Although this was somewhat ambitious based on the available resources and hands on the ground, the purpose was more of an experimental type of research to determine how best to tackle this type of data collection despite the lack of available information, communications and relevant institutional assistance that is currently experienced within Zimbabwe. The main findings of the study can be found in chapter 4 but are not limited to include average tourism spending, linkages between household income and average daily expenditure, linkages between geographic origination and average spending, employment of lodges, community initiatives and potential income generated through national parks.