ISSN: 2349-5677 Volume 1, Issue 1, June 2014 Examination Of Socio-Cultural Impacts Of Tourism In Chembe Village In Mangochi District- Malawi James Malitoni Chilembwe Lecturer in Travel and Tourism Management Mzuzu University Private Bag 201, Mzuzu 2, Malawi. Email:
[email protected] Abstract This paper examines tourism viability in Mangochi district, Malawi in particular Chembe Village. A destination offers a diversity of sites and activities to both international and domestic tourists. These range from ecotourism, cultural tourism, adventure tourism, and conference tourism which play a role as drivers of tourism industry in Mangochi district. The results revealed that the socio-cultural impacts of tourism varied according to people’s level of dependency on tourism and demographic variables such residence, age, professional, income levels and purpose of visit. Interestingly, it was revealed that tourism has impacted a lot on the marriage structures, values, customs and traditions in addition to changes in dressing patterns. Data analysis supports the evidence that there are both positive and negative socio-cultural impacts of tourism. The benefits of tourism at Chembe far exceed the costs. The study clearly shows that the locals of Chembe are supportive of tourism and that negative socio-cultural impacts on the community have been relatively minimal. However, it is important to implement proposed recommendations in this study in order to continue to control and reduce negative impacts and to enhance the well-being of locals through tourism. Keywords: Tourism and Ethnicity, Social Tourism, Cultural Tourism 61 ISSN: 2349-5677 Volume 1, Issue 1, June 2014 Introduction Tourism as social science deals with the study and understanding of communities (Maganga, 2014).