Factors that affect the demand for domestic tourism among professionals in Nairobi:An application of the AIDA model

Abstract

This study was conducted between April and July, 2000~ The population of interest included all professionals in Nairobi. Three cases were chosen, namely, doctors, lawyers, and engineers. The sample was drawn from the following professional bodies:- • Kenya Medical Association; • Law Society of Kenya and • The Institute of Engineers of Kenya.

A frame work of the AIDA model was used in the study. This study was an exploratory one with three main objectives, namely: 1) To determine the readiness state of professionals in the consumption of domestic tourism among professionals using the AIDA model. 2) To determine whether the readiness state of a professional can explain his/her demand for domestic tourism services. 3) To determine whether the readiness state of a professional can explain the marketing factors that would appeal to the professional to consume domestic tourism services. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data (see Appendix 8). Thefindings were as follows: The proportion of professionals that have high awareness was consistently lowacross the three categories of professionals, that is 2.4%, 0% and 10.3% among doctors, engineers and lawyers respectively. The proportion of professionals that had high interest was consistently high, that is 87.8%,. 88.6% and 89.8% among doctors, engineers and lawyers, respectively. The proportion of professionals that had high desire was also consistently low, that is 2.4%, 6.8% and 0% among the doctors, engineers and lawyers, respectively. The proportion of professionals that had high action was also r: consistently low across the three categories, that is 7.3%, 4.5% and 12.8% among the doctors, engineers and lawyers, respectively. (See Table 1) With regard to the second objective, there was no difference regardless of the readiness state of the respondents to their demand for domestic tourism services. With respect to the various readiness states, that is awareness, interest, desire and action; Price and security ranked in the first and second position respectively, by the professionals as factors that determine the demand for tourism services. However, when the Pearson's correlation analysis was carried out, a significant relationship of -.294 was found between the level of awareness and attraction at destination at 0.01 level. The' significance, meaning, the less the awareness, the more important attraction at destination is. A significant relationship of -.216 was also found between the level of action and attraction at destination at 0.01 level. The significance, meaning, that the less action, the more important attraction at destination. Withregard to the third objective, there was no difference regardless of the readiness state of the respondents to the marketing factors that appeal to them in the consumption of domestic tourism services. Howeverwhen the Pearson's correlation analysis was carried out, significant relationship of -.250 was found between advertising and level of awareness at 0.001 level, meaning, the less aware, the more important advertising is as a factor determining the appeal for consumption of domestic tourism services. A significant relationship of .241 between word of mouth advertising and level of awareness at 0.001 level, meaning, the more aware, the more importan t word of mouth advertising is as a factor determining the appeal for consumption of domestic tourism services.