Microsoft Word 2007 ichrie conference Proceedings Final-Final 06-06-07. doc

RESEARCH QUESTIONS 
Based on the current status of tourism activity in Tanzania, the research hypotheses in this study were: 
1.
There is a significant difference in factors impacting economic contribution and performance of small hotel 
activity in Arusha, Dar es Salaam, and Mwanza. 
2.
There is a significant difference in developmental policies, and industry and competitiveness environment 
of small hotel activity in Arusha, Dar es Salaam, and Mwanza. 

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2007 Annual International CHRIE Conference & Exposition 
427
METHODS 
A sample of small hospitality business (hotel, restaurant, and tour company) operators, doing business in 
three areas of Tanzania (Arusha, Dar es Salaam, and Mwanza) participated in the study. Researchers recruited local 
hospitality business operators by working with local industry volunteers. Further, a list of all hotels and their 
addresses was obtained from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, and a letter of invitation to participate 
was mailed to solicit participation. Personal visits and telephone calls were made by researchers one to two days 
prior to data collection. Most participants represented small hotels (over 50% of respondents). Therefore this paper 
only analyzes responses received from small hotel operators. Three short questionnaires were developed for data 
collection. The first questionnaire was designed to obtain demographic information about participants and their 
businesses. The second questionnaire included questions about how participants perceived their business and 
operating environment. Business environment questions included access to financing; access to important 
infrastructure for operations; quality of infrastructure services; time required to obtain licenses; perceptions about 
the scale, scope, and quality of hospitality industry products and services; access and quality of equipment and other 
operating requirements; and importance of developing a competitive advantage through various business strategies.
The third questionnaire gathered information about linkages of these businesses, including economic linkages to the 
local communities, country from which they purchased various products, and government and non-government 
purchases. Questions were developed based on the literature and the World Bank’s Regional Private Enterprise 
Development instrument (World Bank, 2004). Questionnaires were printed in duplicate on carbonless paper, so that 
participants could retain a copy and a copy could be submitted to researchers. The research protocol and 
questionnaires were approved by the Office of Research Assurances prior to data collection. A novel form of data 
collection was developed for use in this study. A 6-hour workshop was conducted in each of the three cities, and 
data collection was woven into the workshop format. This approach was taken in an effort to provide an educational 
opportunity for participants, provide clarification for the data collected, and increase participation and response rate. 
The workshop was conducted in an area hotel. Approximately 3 hours of instruction was given, and lunch was 
provided as an incentive. An additional three hours of instruction was given in the afternoon, and certificates were 
distributed upon completion. Data were analyzed using SPSS (version 9.0, Chicago, IL). Descriptive statistics for 
ordinal variables, including central tendency measures of median and mode were conducted. Chi-square test of 
independence and measures of association such as Somers’d, Kendall’s tau-b and tau-c were conducted. Kruskal-
Wallis mean rank and median tests were conducted as was analysis of variance.