The local communities’ perceptions on the social impact of tourism and its implication for sustainable development in Amhara regional state

Abstract

Tourism is a current and global industry that has a multidimensional impact on destinations. As an emerging industry, it has an immense contribution to make to the development of the local community if all stakeholders participate in a responsible manner. The social impact of tourism is, among other things, one that needs the attention of scholars. The social impact of tourism is immense and diverse, and it is embedded with other tourism impacts. So, studying it is very essential to managing tourism in a responsible way. To address the stated objective, mixed research approaches were used. The result of the study indicated that tourism has both positive as and negative impacts on tourist destinations. The positive social impact of tourism was expressed in moderate terms and stated in terms of the expansion of hotels, road transportation, air transportation, electricity, internet, banking, and other infrastructures. The negative social impact was expressed in small terms and conveyed in terms of the unequal access to the aforementioned social services, the expansion of prostitution, the persistence of theft and illicit trade in heritage, and the random adoption of the lifestyles and manners of tourists by residents.