Abstract:
This study sought to examine the effect of illegal migrants on indigenous employment
opportunities in Tanzania, siting the case of tourism companies in Arusha. The study
employed a quantitative approach using descriptive statistics as a way of data analysis. The
self-constructed questionnaire was designed and checked by experts to determine the validity
of the instrument. A pilot study was carried out to determine the reliability of the study using
the Cronbach Alfa Coefficient. A Cronbach’s alpha of 0.86 that was obtained confirmed that
the questionnaire set was reliable. The study comprised a population of 319 and the number
of selected respondents to the questionnaire survey were distributed to 94 respondents. The
research attempted to address three research objectives as follows (i)To find out why tourism
companies prefer employing illegal migrants in the Arusha city; (ii) To examine the effect of
illegal migrants on the indigenous employment opportunities in Arusha city; (iii) To determine
measures of combating illegal migrants from grabbing indigenous employment opportunities in
Arusha tourism companies. All the questions were coded and analyzed using an SPSS
program version 20. The researcher ensured the respondents of their confidentiality right and
anonymity taken as seriously as they deserve. The study found out that there is a high rate of
illegal migrants in the studied area and this causes a lot of tension among the employees. A
recommendation is made that the ministry of tourism should see to it that policies, procedures
and regulations are well followed to ensure productivity and affirmation of indigenous job
security.
