Moderating Effects of the Legal Framework on the Relationship between Local Communities’ Practices and Community-Based Tourism Enterprises Developments in MBOMIPA WMA

The study examined how the legal framework moderates the relationships between community participation, security practices, tourism facilities, and tourism development. This study assessed the moderating effects of the legal framework on the relationship between local communities’ practices and community-based tourism enterprises' development in the MBOMIPA Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in the Iringa Region. The study utilized a mixed approach method whereby both quantitative and qualitative techniques were used to collect data. The quantitative sample employed was 96 respondents selected through simple random sampling, and the qualitative sample involved 20 participants selected through snowball sampling. Data analysis was conducted by multiple correlation analysis and thematic analysis. It was found that there were moderate to strong positive correlations between these variables and the legal framework. Specifically, community participation (CP) and security practices (SP) showed moderate to strong positive relationships with the legal framework, suggesting that active community engagement and robust security measures are linked to supportive legal regulations. Similarly, tourism facilities (TF) and tourism development (TD) demonstrated strong positive relationships with the legal framework, indicating that effective legal regulations are crucial for developing tourism infrastructure and enhancing tourism outcomes. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of a well-structured legal framework in promoting sustainable and inclusive community-based tourism by aligning community efforts, security measures and infrastructure development with supportive regulations. Encourage local communities to align with legal matters in increasing tourism developments.