A study on strategies for local tourism development in Morocco from the perspective of community-based tourism : The case study of Chefchaoun

Community-based tourism allows for better contact with the local community and for tourist to experience new sensations while enabling the economic and social development of the geographic area. In this paper, a survey in Chefchaoun in Morocco was conducted two times to assess the opinion and perception of visitors and local community investors towards tourism. Current study revealed some problems faced by visitors(e.g., unreasonable accommodation prices, hard selling, overcrowding, poor quality services, unsuitable food prices, inadequate public facilities and entertainment places, and unconfident guide) and some problems recognized by the local community investors(e.g., lack of government interest, poor infrastructure, lack of public facilities and entertainment places, tax, and lack of tourism training centers). According to the results of factor analysis, there are two main factors suggested as strategies to reduce the community problems in Chefchaoun, namely Hardware strategy, and Software strategy. In this part six implications were carried out in present study. The results of present research would be useful to introduce proper strategies and suggestions to meet the needs and requirements of both the visitors and local community investors.