Firm strategy and key success factors in the Tourism industry in Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify firm strategy and key success factors in the tourism industry in Kenya. Private tour companies have been tasked to develop the sector, which has been identified as a potential area that will contribute in helping the economy to a rate of 10%. The funds generated have will be used to invest in the people of Kenya as highlighted in the vision 2030 handbook. The objective of the study was to determine if strategy exists in the sector and how the various strategies have been matched to the various competitive factors to enhance a sustainable competitive advantage. The study covered 30 tour and travel firms in the tourism private sector. The research design was in form of a descriptive survey intended to identify the key success factors and strategies employed by private tour firms in Kenya and to establish whether they base their strategies on the key success factors. The researcher used primary sources of data since the objective was to determine if strategy exists in the sector and how strategy has been matched to the various competitive factors in order to get a sustainable competitive advantage. The data was collected using questionnaires; it was then coded and tabulated to facilitate statistical analysis using SPSS. Descriptive statistics was used to transform the data collected into standard form for relative comparison. The study found out that the key success factors that were important in influencing strategy were marketing, technology and service quality. Strategy alliances and human resource were also important and were ranked second to the first pair of factors. The findings of the study were found to be consistent with other previous studies on the subject of industry key success factors.