Demand Drivers For Urban Domestic Tourism In Kenya

Abstract

This dissertation sought to underscore the critical role domestic tourism plays in Kenya in supporting the tourism and hospitality industry particularly when international arrivals are low; is as important as international tourism for the economic growth of Kenya. It explored the demand drivers for urban domestic tourism in Kenya with the aim of seeking ways to improve domestic tourism in Kenya, as only a few Kenyans, roughly 30% go for holidays locally while majority have little knowledge of the diverse tourist attractions available. The goals of this study were to determine the tourist destination attributes, marketing communication channels, personal attributes, and psychological factors that influenced demand for urban domestic tourism in Kenya. It was hypothesized that there was no significant relationship between tourist destination attributes, marketing communication channels, personal attributes, psychological factors and demand for urban domestic tourism in Kenya. This study was conducted in selected tourist destinations in Nairobi city and Nakuru town and the subjects of this study were domestic tourists. Multistage sampling procedure was used and the response rate was 89%. Collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and through the application of factor and multiple regression analysis at 95% confidence level. The results of this study revealed that psychological factors specifically motivation push factors, perception and learning, were the most significant demand drivers of urban domestic tourism. Personal attributes in particular education, age, lifestyle, paid holidays, economic status, and personality were the second most significant demand drivers; followed by tourism destination attributes mainly the marketing mix and the tourism product attributes. Marketing communication channels specifically exhibitions, telephone, direct mail, newspaper, internet, radio, television, tour firms and travel agencies, yellow pages, travel diaries show on KIN, sales promotion, newsletters, magazines and brochures were least- significant. From the findings, it is recommended that urban domestic tourism needs to be integrated in all facets of the country: national, county, civic and business organizations, supported by a coherent strategy and followed by educational and awareness campaigns to sensitize Kenyan nationals about Kenya's tourism products. Tourism and hotel industry players need to have an in-depth understanding of the Kenyan domestic tourist so that they can craft focused marketing strategies and marketing mixes targeted and packaged towards satisfying the needs of different market segments. The Ministry of Tourism should develop marketing partnerships and associations with organizations that offer tours, travel and hospitality services so as to enhance brand exposure of the different tourist destinations within Kenya. Moreover, marketing communications such as tour and travel exhibitions should not only be focused in one town (Nairobi) but also to other potential areas or country wide. Kenya's tourism industry should diversify, develop and manage its tourism product portfolio since the prominence of Safari and Beach tourism has resulted in less leisure travel among many Kenyans. This study also recommends the tourism and hotel industry players to have a thorough understanding of the personal attributes, psychological and other factors that influence the purchasing behavior of domestic tourists so that distinctive domestic tourist segments that require separate marketing mix strategies and positioning tactics can be identified. The Kenyan government and other stakeholders need to find ways to curb the high rates of insecurity in the country so that domestic tourists feel safe and secure while visiting tourist destinations. There is need for more research to investigate other consumer behavioral factors; the types of activities that domestic tourists engage or would be interested in; and the impact of the current tourism activities on demand for urban domestic tourism.