European Regional Science Association
|
European Regional Science Association
|
|
|
|
|
The abstract for paper number 419:
Pius Odunga, Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya, Henk Folmer, Wageningen University
Tilburg University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Profiling Tourists for Balanced Utilization of Tourism-Based Resources in Kenya
Kenya is predominantly a nature-based tourism destination with wildlife (concentrated in the southern part of the country) and beaches (along the Indian Ocean) accounting for over 85% of the international tourists visiting the country. Other attractions are based on the physical landscape of the country and the culture of the people. Unfortunately, the full potential of culture-based attractions has not been exploited.
The over-concentration of tourism activities in wildlife protected areas and on the coastal zone has had inherent problems that include severe environmental degradation. The less visited attractions stand the risk of neglect and could be eroded from the nation’s heritage with time. There is need to diversify tourism activities and spread them to other parts of the country by putting more emphasis on non-traditional ones such as cultural excursions.
This research will profile tourists based on their preferences as assessed from the proportion of time they spend at different attraction sites. Although convenience might be a determinant of time allocation amongst various competing attractions, such an allocation is likely to reflect the underlying consumer preferences. While planning for their trips, tourists have an opportunity to choose modes of travel with time portfolios that give them maximum satisfaction. By associating the characteristics of tourists with various attractions, a consumer preference profile could be established and used in encouraging proportionately more visits by tourists with greater affinity for non-traditional attractions. The profile-mix of tourists has to be matched to the carrying capacities of various attractions so as to ensure balanced and sustainable utilization of resources.
KEY WORDS: Tourist profile-mix, non-traditional attractions, Kenya
Unfortunately full paper has not been submitted.