Tourists attitudes towards natural reserves in Senegal

Bc. Ahmadou Badara Beye

Bachelor's thesis

Abstract:

Ecotourism is a valuable source of income for countries possessing a diverse and exotic ecosystem. There is, however, a lack of information about ecotourist’s satisfaction in Senegal. A better understanding of tourist’s experiences might therefore increase the country’s ecotourism potential. The purpose of this study was to investigate tourists’ attitudes, experience and animal preferences towards natural reserves in Senegal. The case study was conducted among 100 visitors of Bandia natural reserve in Senegal right after their visit. Their socio-demographic characteristics, animal preferences and opinion concerning information were collected and processed. The data was mainly collected through a questionnaire survey and analyzed with the use of descriptive statistics. The main findings of the study showed that the most popular animals in natural reserves are big herbivores, especially exotics ones especially (giraffe and white rhinoceros). It was also discovered that the majority of ecotourists were from France, young generation (19-29 years) and they were staying in the country for one to three weeks. Most respondents were decently informed about the fauna of the Senegalese natural reserves, they were therefore not willing to pay high amounts of money to have more information at their disposal. The results can be used by natural reserves managers in this area to better target tourists’ needs and improve their marketing capacity.

Keywords

Ecotourism, Natural reserves, Tourist preferences, Senegal

Jazyk práce: English

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 19. 4. 2019

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Vedúci: Ing. Petra Chaloupková, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Bachelor programme / odbor:
Agricultural Specialization / Agriculture in Tropics and Subtropics