Determinants of Tourist Porter Socio-Economic Welfare in Moshi Municipality, Tanzania

Abstract

Porters’ socio-economic welfare has been an intricate issue that is brought up every time when mountain tourism is discussed. This study sought to analyze the determinants of tourist porter socio-economic welfare in Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania. The study was focused on determining the effect of wages and tips on porters’ socioeconomic welfare, examining the effect of working conditions on porters’ socioeconomic welfare and evaluating the contribution of porter associations in improving their welfare. The study adopted a cross-sectional study design with the sample of 141 respondents who constituted the total sample of this study. Moreover, the study employed data collection methods including questionnaires, interviews and documentary reviews. Quantitative approaches were deployed to analyze data involving descriptive and inferential statistics using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) 25 th version. Descriptive statistics involving percentage and tables were used to present the data which was collected. The findings from the study revealed that, despites porters being the backbone of the trekking industry they are paid low wages by their employer compared to what is recommended by government public notice number 225 of June 2008. The findings further revealed that porters are working in poor environment, with insecure employment based on short term basis while using inferior equipments compared to the ones used by the tourists. Corruption in weighing station is something that is still present and practiced. The policies and porter protection laws are still lacking as they are not adjusted periodically and not followed to the latter. With regards to the porters associations, the study discovered that these associations have been doing an excellent job in building awareness among tour operators and tourists on how these porters are to be treated and paid for their labor however due to various loop holes in policies, laws, administration and corruption their efforts seems not efficient enough as majority of the porters are still underpaid and mistreated. Therefore, in order to improve the situation the government and other tourism stakeholders should view and reform the tourism policies, laws and administrations so as to meet the social and economical changes as well as conducting thorough follow ups so as to ensure the practice is conducted in an ethical manner while following the rules and systems in place.