Academic literature on the topic 'Tourism in Kenya'

This paper is both a personal and an academic reflection on my work as a U.S.-trained Kenyan anthropologist directing a study-abroad program for American undergraduate students in Kenya. It is an attempt to address three main issues: First is to understand why students choose to come to Kenya and what they hope to achieve by studying here. Second is to get a sense of what kind of prior images and information these students have of Kenya and Africa and how this influences their interaction with Kenya. Third is to understand how I as a Kenyan anthropologist trained in America balance the tasks of cultural broker and teacher of students in Kenya as is demanded of my position as director of a study-abroad program.

The authors present survey findings from agropastoral households living near tourist attraction sites and undertake agropastoral activities, conservation, and community tourism enterprises in Laikipia, Kenya. Laikipia is a major wildlife migration route, popular with private conservancies and ranches, attracting large numbers of tourists. The authors explore the key determinants of participation in community tourism and find that communication and road infrastructure, membership of community groups, and security aspects influence household participation in community tourism. Policies aiming to improve infrastructure and security and to encourage the formation of investment groups would enhance participation in community tourism activities and raise household incomes.

This paper uses dynamic panel model to compare the effect of terrorism on developed and emerging country demand for tourism in Kenya. Quarterly data spanning 2010Q1 to 2013Q4, sourced from the Kenyan National Bureau of Statistics, for 27 developed and 34 emerging countries is used. Intensity of terror attack measured by fatalities significantly reduces tourist arrivals from developed countries but not from emerging countries. A 1% increase in fatality reduces arrivals from developed countries by 0.082%. This translates to 2487 visitors per year, or roughly 155.8 million Kenya shillings lost annually from an increase of one fatality per quarter.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze tourism-led growth hypothesis in Kenya’s economy. 
 Materials and Methods: The descriptive research design was adopted. This study targeted international tourism receipts, employment, economies of scale and capital investments in tourism related economic activities that included hotels and food service activities, wholesale and retail trade, transport and information communication and travel agencies, entertainment and recreation in the period 1980 to 2019.The study used purposive sampling. a sample size of data for 40 years from 1980 to 2019 was used. The data were collected from KNBS, the World Bank and WTTC using a secondary data collection sheet. Using real GDP per capita as the dependent variable and international tourism receipts, tourism related employment, economies of scale and capital investments as the independent variables, the study used regression and vector error correction (VEC) to carry out the analysis. The analysis was systematic and begins with diagnostic tests that included Breusch-Godfrey Serial Correlation LM test, Breusch-Pagan-Godfrey test for homoscedasticity, Jarque-Bera normality test, VIF multi-collinearity test, Augmented Dickey Fuller unit root test and Johansen Co-integration test and finally the regression and the vector error correction analysis. Data analysis was done using E-views software.
 Results: The study results showed that international tourism receipts, tourism related employment and economies of scale positively influence real GDP per capita in both short run and long run equilibrium. Capital investments negatively affected real GDP per capita in the long run but had a positive effect in the short run equilibrium. Granger causality test presented a bi-directional causality between international tourism receipts, tourism related employment, economies of scale and capital investments and real GDP per capita.
 Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The country should enact policies that promote tourism related activities because the benefits derived from tourist expenditures positively influence the growth of the economy. Institutions such as Brand Kenya, Tourism Promotion Council, the Ministry of Tourism and recruitment of international tourism ambassadors should be strengthened to ensure more foreign tourists are attracted into the country.

Purpose of the study: The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of travel preferences on domestic tourism participation behaviour of domestic tourists by comparing the preferences of both domestic tourists and non-tourists in Nairobi county, Kenya.
 Methodology: The study adopted descriptive and explanatory research designs. The target population was residents of Nairobi County aged above 18 years. Close-ended questionnaires were used to collect data from 337 domestic tourists in five tourist sites and 339 non-tourists in eight shopping malls within Nairobi. Descriptive analysis, the independent t-test and multiple regression tests were used to analyze the resultant data.
 Main Findings: The results from the independent t-test showed significant differences between domestic tourists and domestic non-tourists with the tourists displayed stronger preferences than the non-tourists (t =-3.04, df =674, p=0.002). The regression analysis revealed that preferences significantly predicted participation behaviour for both domestic tourists (β=0.287, p<0.001) and domestic non-tourists (β= -0.316, p<0.001).
 Applications of this study: The findings of this study contribute to the understanding of the influence of tourism preferences on domestic tourism participation from the viewpoint of both tourists and non-tourists. This is key to supporting both product developers and destination marketers to avail of the right products and formulate the right marketing messages. It also serves to extend the debate on domestic tourism non-participation.
 Novelty/Originality of this study: The study contributes to existing knowledge by clearly bringing out the gap in the current domestic product offering and marketing messages through a comparison of the preferences of domestic tourists and non-tourists. This knowledge is required to maintain the existing domestic market (current tourists) and also to tap into the lucrative potential market that is made up of the current non-tourists.

Purpose Globally, poverty has been a persistent problem despite decades of unprecedented growth. The purpose of this paper is to deliberate on a sustainable livelihoods and poverty eradication approach in an African context. Design/methodology/approach The paper aims to bridge the gaps in poverty eradication strategies in East Africa by examining recent literature on livelihoods approaches and poverty eradication approaches. Findings Safari tourism is one way of connecting poor communities in Kenya to the tourism industry. The development of community conservancies in Kenya presents yet more opportunities for communities to be integrated with the sector. The Africanization of the tourism sector in Kenya is a priority, as communities embrace tourism and poverty eradication measures. Practical implications There is a need for the Safari tourism sector to integrate the local community’s indigenous knowledge systems, community social capital and the community’s natural capital with tourism product development and diversification. Originality/value The paper draws on applied research and technical analysis of the unique opportunities for enhancing sustainable poverty eradication through the tourism sector in East Africa and, more particularly, a Kenyan context.