Beyond the Tourist Experience: An Exploration of Social Capital Among Local Tourism Businesses at Cape Coast and Elmina, Ghana

Abstract

Social capital is an essential concept to consider in tourism development. Tourism development is fundamentally shaped by social relationships and depends on ongoing interaction among business owners, visitors, institutions, and local communities, which creates conditions in which trust, cooperation, and shared practices can emerge and be sustained (Van Ingen & Van Eijck, 2009; Yuen et al., 2005; Dworkin et al., 2003). Cape Coast and Elmina are widely recognized as central to Ghana’s tourism landscape, yet despite this importance, tourism has performed poorly to improve the livelihoods of the people of Cape Coast and Elmina (Koutra, 2015; Koutra & Edwards, 2012; Holden et al., 2011; Boakye, 2008; Arthur & Mensah, 2006; Teye et al., 2002). In response to such challenges, social capital has increasingly been introduced as a tool to alleviate poverty and improve the livelihoods of people (Kaewhanam et al., 2025; Osei & Zhuang, 2020). However, there remains a gap in research examining how Ghana’s unique socio-cultural structures and colonial history shape the formation and use of social capital in tourism contexts, particularly in West African coastal destinations such as Cape Coast and Elmina. This highlights the need for context-specific approaches to the study of social capital. Responding to calls for qualitative approaches that better capture the complexity of social interactions (Taylor, 2017; Ooi et al., 2015), this study draws on social capital theory to understand the nature and scope of relationships among tourism businesses at Cape Coast and Elmina, Ghana. A qualitative case study design was employed, drawing on semi-structured interviews with tourism business owners and tourism institutional staff. The data gathered were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings show that social capital is generated mainly through endogenous pathways, with kinship-based bonding ties playing a central role in sustaining tourism businesses. Bridging connections exist but are limited by competition, mistrust, and weak collaboration among businesses, while linking ties to formal institutions remain scarce. Access to these networks is uneven and shaped by status, informal authority, political connections, and exclusionary practices, reinforcing hierarchical patterns within the local tourism economy. By incorporating these empirical patterns into a revised conceptual framework, the study demonstrates how everyday relational practices intersect with structural power, inequality and exclusion to shape cooperation in postcolonial tourism settings. The findings highlight the need for governance and association arrangements that address distrust, limit patronage-based gatekeeping, and expand inclusive participation among local tourism businesses.