Determinants of performance of the tourism industry in Kenya: a case of Kakamega County

Abstract

The tourism sector in Kenya is among the industries that largely depend on development of infrastructure because it is widely influenced by the international standards that are set by the World Tourism Organisation (WTO).These standards require a lot of infrastructural development and innovation in order to compete with other world destinations. Despite the fact that tourism has led to the development of infrastructure in most remote areas, the development scale is not yet enough. This study aimed at investigating the determinants of performance of the tourism industry in Kenya, a case of Kakamega county. The study was conducted in Kakamega County in the months of July and August 2013, as a representative sample of other regions. The objectives of this study were to determine the extent to which the state of roads influence the performance of the tourism industry in Kakamega County, to establish the level to which the state of the airport influences the performance of the tourism industry in Kakamega County, to investigate the influence of standard of hotels on the performance of the tourism industry in Kakamega County and to assessed how entrepreneurial skills influence the performance of the tourism industry in Kakamega County. The study used survey research design to solicit information. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used as tools for collecting primary data. Secondary data was collected from the internet as well as books, magazines and journals. The researcher employed cencus to select the respondents. The target population for this study was both male and female respondents and consisted of at least 60 respondents. This was generated from 3 tourist officers from the Ministry of tourism Western Circuit, 27 hotel managers from hotels in Kakamega County and 30 tour guides from Kakamega. The sample size therefore was 60 respondents. The above samples represented the total population. The collected data was analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively in order to achieve the desired aim of the study. Data analysis was done using the SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) computer software and descriptive statistics was done. Data was presented in tables and shown in percentages. The study established after analysis of the tested variables, the determinants of performance of the tourism industry, that the of the roads, state of the airport, standard rating of hotels, and lack of entrepreneurial skills in the Kakamega County were impeding factors to the performance of the tourism industry. The study makes specific recommendations on the area of transportation, hotel facilities and entrepreneurial skills . It also makes recommendations cutting across the areas. Among the recommendations, include: development of a proper government assessment of transportation within Kakamega County; Strengthening of the existing transportation networks, for instance through protecting tunnels against flooding; Accelerating the modernization of the hotel facilities and services in the area; involve the local community in tourist development initiatives in the region; establishing a new development fund for financing the construction, rehabilitation and the expansion of the road infrastructure by the county government; constructing an airport to facilitate the movement of visitors and link it with other tourist circuits in Kenya and providing relevant education to sharpen entrepreneurial skills.