Domestic Tourism in Kenya

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Tourism is emerging as a leading global driver. In Kenya it is already an important contributor to the employment and wealth creation, with a huge flow through effects that touches all sectors of the economy. Some of the features which make Kenya an attractive tourist proposition include: accessiblewildlife, varied and impressive scenery, unspoiledareas, diverse cultures and generally sunny-hot climate. Domestic tourism also referred to as local tourism involves situation whereby people visit destinations within their countrys boundaries. It is not altogether a new phenomenon in Kenya. Interest in the countrys recreation by the locals started to grow towards the end of the eighteenth century as a reaction to the stress of the increasing urbanization and industrialization. However its growth and development is due to technological advance, the availability of free time and increase in disposable income
(Sharpley, 1996).The biggest demand occurred after the end of Second World War, and the most influential factor was the increase car ownership which enabled more locals to visit the various part of the country. However the local tourism of the eighties, the nineties and our era is different. The number of tourists involved has increased significantly, the range of activities and types of holidays has continued to expand and tourism has developed in various parts of the country instead of being limited to areas of exceptional scenic beauty(Knudson 1985).Although domestic tourism is a small sector of the Kenyas tourism market it can and already making a significant contribution to the development process in the most disadvantages areas. Howeverits contribution is not only in economic terms but it also hides social and environmental benefits, as well as equally important costs. Therefore this particular research is addressed to local tourism management in Kenya with particular references to Nairobi, Mombasa ,Nakuru and Kisumu cities constituting as tourism resource and acting as main destinations of tourists in Kenya


STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Considerable attention has been devoted to evaluating the relationship between economic growth and financial market deepening. Most of what we have learnt and is emphasized a lot relates to fields like banking systems and securities markets with tourism receiving very little or only a passing mention. Tourism development and planning in Third world countries has been associated with a series of negative impacts such  as high crime rate ,cultural destruction ,prostitution and leakage of generated tourism funds(Brohman , 1996).Usually these impacts lead to local residents resistance to tourism development as well as residents hostility towards international tourists (Murphy ,1995)
In recent domestic tourism literature, researchers have introduced concepts and relevant models about tourism destinations competitiveness for example ,(Jones,1995; Crouch and Ritchie,2000; Hessen; Thomas and long 2000;Kozak, 2001;Dwyer, 2001 and Yon,2002). Most of these studies have focused on how effectively and efficiently destination competitiveness can be improved to respond to escalating market competition. Its evident that tourism has enormous potential as a catalyst for future economic and social development; however, Kenyas local tourism is blocked by specific problems. Some of this problems include a poor perception of the security and safety of tourists when travelling, inadequate local marketing ,shortage of well-trained tourism-friendly staff, poor transport systems and weak linkages within the private and public sector .Domestic tourism is often regarded as being less significant to national economies than inbound tourism ,for it does not generate foreign currency .Instead it redistributes local currency spatially within the boundaries of the country also a number of researchers have commented that this sector is measured poorly and infrequently .The reasons are manifold and begin with the challenge of defining who is who is not considered as a domestic tourist.
The essence of this research therefore is aiming to establish the role of the tourism industry in the economy .It intends to go further into suggesting measures that should be employed to facilitate the contribution of the tourism sector in economic development of the country

JUSTIFICATION/SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This research is to help in creating awareness to the local people and government on the important role played by the tourism industry towards economic development. Upon realization of this noble role, it is expected  that the research compels people and government to embrace domestic tourism.
The research is also important in the sence that it suggest measures to improve the tourism industry and this will not only enhance stabilization of the industry but will also enable it to make full economic contribution
It intends that the findings of this research be used by local authorities to assess and evaluated the current development of domestic tourism and to gain knowledge on locals perception about their experience during visits and the findings could be used for connection in the current local tourism development in Kenya
Basically the study contributes to a theoretically enhancement of the current level of knowledge in the existing literature on tourism competitiveness .this is to be achieved by developing a destination competitiveness model best on an extensive literature study,and testing this model in the practical contribution, the finding are to be used to improve domestic tourism in Kenya.

Theories and earlier research can be found containing certain parts of this subject, but there has not been sufficient research done especially in Kenyan context which this research intends to dwell much on. .Therefore the intention of this study is just to give a clearer and more structural picture of the noble role played by the tourism industry in economic development.
Therefore , main ideology in the research is that sustainable development in tourism can only come from a focus on local tourism that is not affected by unforeseen circumstances as travel advisories and insecurity

  RESEARCH QUESTIONS

A couple of questions are raised or come up in the course of the research .These questions include:
What is domestic tourism?
Who does domestic tourism affect the economy development of a country?
What factor affect the tourism industry?
Why is domestic tourism not popularly practiced?
What is the importance of domestic tourism?
What measures or policies can be put in place to encourage domestic  tour.








OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
General objectives
Main aim and objective of this study /research is to obtain an insight into the current development of local tourism in order to propose further recommendation for efficient economic development of the country.This may be achieved by developing a model that will enable the strategic identification and integration of critical success factors to achieve sustainable growth and competitive advantage for a tourism destination.



Specific Objective:
The research is to be guided by the following objectives;
To promote responsible and community based tourism so that local can enjoy increased social-economic benefits and improved environment.
To develop tourism with dignity, respect and nurture local cultures so they enrich the local tourism.
To determine the relationship between lack of a holiday culture and the low level of local tourism amongst middle level income employees in Kenya.











LIMITATIONS AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY
As much as this research aims to be a cohesive empirical investigation on economic development strategies in Kenya,it might be marred with measurement and reduction error (Phillips,1981;Lieberson, 1985 ),as well as the effects of small sample size and model specification (summary,1987) that are associated with quantitative studies . The study may suffer from some limitation, as is usually the case in research of this type.Most of the difficulties may crop up in analyzing the human behavior,their guesses/personnel views upon effects of tourism.The analysis of the human behavior, and socio-economic effect may be affected by factors discussed below:
The proportion of reliability of information given by the respondents.
It is also very important to understand that most of the effects of domestic tourism are not easily quantifiable,and also that many of theses effects surface in the long run
Time constrains of the semester which require and call for less time than may be ideal foran ethnographic study
Limited access to resources with tourism coverage,since the industry has been greatly and for a long time neglected and undermined by both local and government because its not considered to be preference or luxury to many.
The research may also experience situations whereby in the process of collecting data , especially primary data , from the local , language barrier may exist between the researcher and the locals.
Also , the limitation of questionnaire survey such as respondents bias and missing data may

ETHICAL ISSUES
When conducting research in an academic or professional setting , there is need be for the awareness of the ethnics behind the research activity.some of the specific points to be considered include:
In the course of this study ,the work of earlier researchers is to be highly recognized and none of their work shall or will be quoted or paraphrased  without citing the name of the author and the year which the scholarly writing was done.In the process of collection of primary data for this study ,courtesy is to be observed , while carrying out interview or conducting questionnaires, and necessary respect be accorded to the relevant tourism industry experts.
The rules and regulations outlined by tourism firms that will be consulted will be adhered to , to the letter and permission is to sought from relevant authorities before accessing any institutional document
Also much considerations is to be put in place to avoid certain approaches that would manipulate or belittle tourism participants especially locally , or even put any participants in danger.
Protecting the right , safety , dignity and well-being of research participants is to be ensured and followed.
There is also to be the facilitating and promoting of ethical research which is of potential benefit to participants , science and the society . The research will in no way be involved to do with anything that could cause physical or emotional harm to the subjects or respondents. this will include being careful during interviews for instance involving sensitive , intimidating or personal questions to the subjects.
DATA ANALYSIS
The data collected is to be analyzed both subjectively and objectively. A subjective analysis is usually applied to quantitative data , such as culture impacts of local tourists on tourism providers or tourists perception of certain location while an objective analysis examines the data via the scientific method and in light of other studies that are indicated by the methodology.It is most common for quantitative data , especially concerning economic or economical impacts of local tourism.
A performance of explanatory analysis will assess the characteristic and nature of the data , thus , determing the basic frequencies and descriptive statistics as well as appropriate measures of central tendancy  (Hartwig and Dearing 1979)
A two part structured questionnaire with a stamped return addressed envelope is to be mailed to at least an executive member of a company that operate in the Kenyan tourism market. The instrument was for studying the local tourism market development strategies in Kenya.affect the researchs results.