| dc.description.abstract | Tourism is an important foreign exchange earner to Kenya. As a result there is emphasis on tourism and all efforts are
geared towards this sector- growth and expansion of tourist hotels and conservation of wildlife. Little however has
been done to establish the patterns of recreation of the residents of the Municipality of Mombasa (MoM). It is
important to find out whether these people have leisure time and how they spend it. This is because if leisure time is
not properly utilised then people tend to engage in disruptive behaviour and in the case of those going to school,
learning may not be such an enjoyable process. This study therefore is concerned with the demand for recreation as it
is influenced by certain attributes of the population (age, sex, education, income) and the consumption of this demand
among residents of the Municipality of Mombasa (MoM). In addition recreation is important because of the benefits it
has both to an individual and the society at large. It has been argued that the more educated one is then the more leisure
one seeks, this study seeks to investigate this factor by looking at the recreation patterns of the different education
groups in MoM. The above is being investigated because it is assumed that an urban population has leisure time and
consequently they engage in recreation. This is important as it helped in establishing that there is an Existing Demand
for recreation among residents of MoM. This also helped shed light on activities that are popular and that are likely to
grow in importance in the future.
To carry out the study the following objectives were adopted in the research (i) to examine the social factors that
influence demand for recreation among residents of MoM (ii) to examine the economic factors that influence demand
for recreation. (iii) to put forth recommendations that the Municipality can adopt in future provision of recreation
facilities and their maintenance. In line with the objectives the following hypothesis was formulated there is no
relationship between different recreational activities and socio-economic characteristics of the MoM residents.
Information was collected by way of questionnaires. which were administered to households; observation played an
important role also as well as personal interviews. Both~descriptive and analytical techniques of data analysis were
adopted. The Mann-Whitney test statistic was used to determinewhether socio-economic characteristics do have a
bearing on the type of recreation engaged in. The strength of the abo~e relationship was measured using the chisquare.
Cross-tabulations were used to investigate whether participants in one sporting activity influences participation
in another and the significance was tested by the chi-square test. From the research it was found that both potential and
existing demand are experienced and that the more educated one is then the more recreation activities one engages in.
The only difference in recreation participation between the sexes is in activities like drinking and non-physical
activities. It was found that men's participation in the activities is higher than among women. When it comes to games
it can be seen that activities like football, hockey and tennis have a strong association between themselves in that if one
plays football, then they are also likely to play hockey and tennis. These activities are also likely to grow in importance
in the sense of more people taking up the games. This is in line with Bourdieu's theory on taste in leisure. Existence of
facilities does not automatically mean making use of them e.g. Fort Jesus is rarely visited by residents of MoM.
From the study the following recommendations have been put forth; the municipality should ensure that gardens and
facilities provides within them are maintained and repaired as need be and the fallen leaves are swept regularly. Open
spaces also are provided in upcoming residential areas and other recreational facilities are provided also. Major
recreation sites and land need preservation; otherwise there will be no facilities for recreation. Mama Ngina drive and
the Likoni area need to be protected from land grabbers and private developers.
In areas of further research attention should focus on children since they are the major participants in recreation yet
they receive very little attention. | en |
