Success Factors for Community Business Wildlife Tourism Partnerships in Tanzania

The number of partnership agreements for development is increasing in Africa, and they have different degrees of success. Which critical success factors play a role for partnerships at the community level in the tourism sector in Tanzania? This article analyses nine tourism business–community agreements including three NGO-initiated agreements, three business-initiated agreements and three government-initiated agreements. The partnerships are addressing local economic development and conservation and are assessed on 12 different criteria for success. We found that business-initiated partnerships are working best in meeting the criteria for success. Trust, commitment and mutual benefits are found to be the most important factors. Technical aspects such as accountability and planning (which are mentioned as being of critical importance for national partnerships) are secondary and of less importance for the success of local partnerships.