Global Journal of Management and Business Research, F: Real Estate, Event and Tourism Management, Volume 23 Issue 3

© 2023. Felicien Amakpe, Dirk De Graaf, Brice Sinsin & Honore S. Biaou. This research/review article is distributed under the terms of the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BYNCND 4.0). You must give appropriate credit to authors and reference this article if parts of the article are reproduced in any manner. Applicable licensing terms are at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Global Journal of Management and Business Research: F Real Estate, Event and Tourism Management Volume 23 Issue 3 Version 1.0 Year 2022 Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal Publisher: Global Journals Online ISSN: 2249-4588 & Print ISSN: 0975-5853 Buzzing Opportunities: Integrating Apitourism for Enriching the Tourism Heritage of the Republic of Benin By Felicien Amakpe, Dirk De Graaf, Brice Sinsin & Honore S. Biaou Université de Parakou Abstract - Tourism is the third most crucial socio-economic sector that generates income and employment in the Republic of Benin, where it occupies a prominent place in the country’s development policies. In response to the sustainable development requirements, tourists are worldwide more and more demanding on the quality and diversity of the services they receive. As such, strengthening the tourism sector requires environmentally and socio-economically sustainable innovations. Bees, with their great ecological and socio-economic functions, offer many facets which can be valued to support the well-diversified tourism heritage of the Republic of Benin. This review analyses existing tourism heritage, the diversity of bees and apicultural practices in the country and their susceptibility to apitourism development. Tourism promotion strategies based on the products and the ecological services of social, and solitary bee species were analysed per suggested ecotourism region of the country. The involved actors, their roles, and responsibilities, as well as the challenges that may emerge from integrating the bee sector into the tourism heritage of the country, were also analysed. Keywords: apitourism, beekeeping, benin, biodiversity, culture, heritage, pollinator, tourism, visitor. GJMBR-F Classification: JEL Code: Q26 BuzzingOpportunitiesIntegratingApitourismforEnrichingtheTourismHeritageoftheRepublicofBenin Strictly as per the compliance and regulations of: