Community Based Tourism among the Batwa in Uganda
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Date
2025-11-17
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Makerere University Business School
Abstract
This study explored community-based tourism (CBT) among the Batwa communities living around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP) in southwestern Uganda. The study sought to understand the Batwa's community life, examine the tourist attractions derived from their cultural heritage, assess the benefits and challenges associated with their participation in CBT, and identify interventions for maximizing its positive impacts. A qualitative phenomenological research design was adopted to capture the lived experiences of the Batwa. Data were collected from 25 purposively selected Batwa participants through in-depth semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and document review, and were analyzed thematically using a phenomenological approach.
The findings revealed that although community-based tourism has created opportunities for income generation, cultural visibility, and psychological empowerment, the Batwa continue to experience severe socio-economic marginalization, insecure livelihoods, inadequate housing, landlessness, and persistent discrimination. Their cultural heritage, including traditional dances, storytelling, handicrafts, and indigenous knowledge, constitutes a major tourism attraction; however, the benefits derived from these activities are often limited by unequal power relations, exploitation by intermediaries, low and irregular incomes, and exclusion from tourism planning and decision-making. The study further established that the commercialization of Batwa culture risks cultural commodification and erosion of traditional values, while historical displacement from their ancestral forests continues to undermine their identity and well-being.
The study concludes that, in its current form, community-based tourism has not adequately addressed the historical and structural marginalization of the Batwa. To transform CBT into a genuinely empowering development strategy, there is a need for participatory governance, equitable benefit-sharing mechanisms, skills development, improved infrastructure, protection of indigenous cultural heritage, and greater involvement of the Batwa in tourism planning and management. Such interventions would enhance sustainable livelihoods while promoting social justice, cultural preservation, and indigenous empowerment.
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This is a master's thesis.
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Kyomuhendo, S. (2025). Community Based Tourism among the Batwa in Uganda. (Unpublished master’s dissertation). Makerere University Business School, Kampala, Uganda.