3 research outputs found
Foreign Scholars Activities and their Impacts on Sustainable Tourism Development in Nairobi Metropolis, Kenya
No full textForeign scholars move to international destinations and enroll in institutions for academic courses of study. The students form a promising niche’ market and is the third export earner in Australia. Africa is endowed with unique geographical features which attract the students who enroll in programs such as; eco-tourism, heritage tourism, rural/farm tourism and student exchanges between educational institutions. Africa recognizes educational tourism as a promising niche’ market segment to cushion out the fluctuating numbers of other market segments. The region receives about 14% foreign scholars yearly to add to those existing in their institutions of learning. Kenya receives 50,000 of the students distributed as 1% admissions to public universities and 12% to private universities, a constant 200,000 international students annually. The reasons why scholars from developed nations do not prioritize Africa should be investigated to increase Kenya’s market share. The study purposed to establish the tourist activities that are of interest to the scholars. The scholars from all over the globe join Kenya’s institutions of higher learning and throughout their course of study, they will be attached to attraction sites either as part of their study or as leisure activities. UNESCO supports travel of students to foreign destinations in order to enhance and promote culture and international understanding. International students visit several tourist attraction sites and can be classified as foreign or local tourists. Questionnaires were administered to the scholars, the heads of foreign student offices were subjected in-depth interviews while the communities offering tourism participated in focus group discussions. Only 29.7% (98) had involved themselves with various activities in the communities while a considerable number (65.2%) did not involve themselves in the activities within host communities. However, there was a significant relationship between tourists’ activity options and sustainable tourism development, the P-value 0.029 (P-value<0.05). When tourists’ activity options and economic impact were cross tabulated, no significant relationship was displayed because P-value is 0.301 (P-value>0.05). Majority 58.7% of the students were self-driven to the local communities. The study shows that most of the activities linked to educational trips are organized in relation to the products of tourism available within destinations.
Keywords: International students, international destinations, local destinations, niche’ market, foreign scholars
The Perceptions of Low, Middle and High Income Socio-Economic Groups in Nairobi on Tourist Attraction Sites
No full textKenya is among the developing countries of the world and has actively supported the development of tourism to promote its economy and the livelihood of the people. Kenyans lack the perception that tourism is essential to life, unlike their counter parts in Western Europe and North America where travel is a symbol of socio-economic status. Tourism products and services are not well understood by many Kenyan’s and therefore not well utilized. The study was conducted in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya The groups and the study population were selected using the systematic random sampling technique from the zoning map by the Nairobi city council urban policy plan (NCCUP). The study adopted a descriptive survey design using both quantitative and qualitative research methods to gather data. Data were collected using the questionnaire, likest-scale and the interview schedule. This study purposed to investigate the factors that contribute to the minimal participation by locals in domestic tourism among low, middle and high income socio-economic groups in Nairobi, Kenya. Data were analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 12.5. Factors affecting perception of domestic tourists were subjected to Kaiser Criterion principle component (factor analysis) to reduce the number of variables by varimax rotation. Efforts to promote domestic tourism have continued to bear little fruit. Majority of Kenyans believe that the tourism industry and the hospitality industry that goes with it belong to the white man. This attitude was contributed by the ownership and management of economic activities related to the tourism industry that were entirely in the hands of foreign colonial settler population and later a few Indians. Education is an important factor in shaping the level of positive attitude towards domestic tourism. Residents have different perceptions on domestic tourism and vest the responsibility for their education and understanding on government and tourist service providers. The drop in the international tourists in the 1990s led to a decrease in revenue and had to be substituted by domestic tourism. Several approaches by the ministry of Tourism and wildlife (MTW) through Kenya Tourism Development Council of Kenya (DTCK) and African Tours and Hotels (AT & H) did not achieve much participation by locals remained low at 12.7% of the total visitors. The respondents who were negative about game parks were generally more than those who were in the affirmative. Their negative attitude could be because revenues generated from the national park go to the central government and tourist industry operators and little if not none trickles to communities living around these areas and even very little of this is spent on the economic development of the affected population The values of beliefs and the feelings of the people of Kenya if known will assist in alleviating misconceptions about tourist attraction sites and the hospitality industry. The domestic Tourism Council of Kenya (DTCK) should be revived to generate information and statistics on domestic tourists. Key words: perceptions, socio-economic groups, domestic touris
Role of International Celebrity Events Destination Promotion on Tour Firms Performance in Nairobi City County, Kenya
No full textpossess important social, cultural, and economic outputs. International celebrity events provide additional destination attraction and they create a sustainable tourism industry across many parts of the world. Despite research in recent times in events gaining tremendous interest among scholars and emerging as a crucial area of study, little is known on how international celebrity events hosting influences tour firms’ performance. This study explored the role of international celebrity events destination promotion on tour firms’ performance in Nairobi City County, Kenya. A cross-sectional research design was adopted for the study. The sample size of the study constituted of 390 managerial employees who were drawn from all the 329 tour firms registered with the Kenya Association of Tour Operators. Stratified, systematic, purposive, and convenient sampling approaches were used to sample the respondents, while questionnaires and interview schedules were used for collection of data. Results showed that the international celebrity events destination promotion depicted a positive and statistically significant relationship with tour firms performance (p=0.000<0.05). The study recommends development and hosting of special international celebrity events in the country by event organizers as the basis of increasing the competitiveness of Nairobi City County as a preferred tourist destination.
Keywords: International Celebrity Events Destination Promotion, Image, Hosting, Tour Firms, Performance, Competitivenes
