Abstract:
The main objective of this study was to assess potentials and challenges of tourism development in
Shonke village. A detailed section describes local community attractions and the general way of life of
inhabitants. A descriptive research design within a qualitative approach was used and informants were
selected from members of local communities, decision makers of government bodies, religious
institution leaders, and tourism experts, using a purposive sampling technique. Eight individuals were
selected for focus group discussions and twenty-three key informants for interviewing along with
personal observation of potential and challenges for tourism development. The data were analyzed
through arranging it into groups or classes according to their themes and the researchers then assigned
symbols to each category of responses. Results indicated that Shonke village has great potential for
tourism resources with its beautiful geographical landscape, magnificent terracing of farmlands,
impressive architectural design of houses, and the impressive traditional and cultural lifestyles.
However, local communities were not benefitting at all from tourism in terms of socio-cultural, economic
and environmental aspects due to a lack of coordination problem among stakeholders, poor community
involvement and participation in tourism development, a lack of funding, limited awareness, security
concerned, insufficient marketing and promotion drives, poor physical infrastructure such as
accommodation establishments, accessibility, pure water, health center, electric power and public
toilets.
