Unpacking rural tourism on household livelihood: Insights from Kakum Ghana

The influence of rural tourism on the socio-economic well-being of indigenous people is often ignored in scholarly literature. To address this gap in the literature, a qualitative case study research design was used to gain insights into how tourism strategies had over the years influenced the economic wellbeing of indigenous people living within the catchment area of the Kakum National Park (KNP) in the central region of Ghana. The participants of the study comprised residents of “Dwaso” and “Ahafo” within the central region of Ghana. The study’s findings revealed that the establishment of tourist site has been a mixed blessing. This is not surprising because it has made the names of the communities popular across the world. However, the negative side of the tourist site far outweighs the dividends because it has impoverished the people in terms of depriving them of their source of livelihood. To worsen their plight, natives are subjected to various forms of harassment as their source of eking out a living and virtually rendering them paupers, which used not to be so before the advent of the tourist site.