The contribution of tourism to poverty reduction: a case study of communities living adjacent to Amboseli national park, Kenya
Abstract
This
study investigates
t
ourism’s contribution to
poverty
reduction
amongst communities living
adjacent to
Amboseli
National Park in
Kenya.
The study mainly employed
a
qualitative research
design and data were
collected
through
a
mixed method
approach
involving in
-
depth interviews
with a wide range of community members and key informant
s and
Focus
Group Discussions
(FGDs)
with
people
directly involved
with
tourism. Some data was also gathered from secondary
sources.
The
findings indicate
that
as at the time of this study tourism was making minimal
contribution to poverty reduction.
However, many
people in Amboseli stated that even though the
benefits from tourism were very limited they played an important role in
improving
the
living
conditions of the poor.
The study also identified
several
problems
that mak
e it difficult
for
the
people of
Amboseli
to dra
w maximum benefits from tourism. Some these barriers included:
tour
driver and guide exploitation, inequitable benefit sharing and lack of broad based management
structures. The study concludes that
tourism has
the
potential to contribute to
poverty reduction in
Amboseli
, however,
this can only happen if there is
a unity of purpose and renewed
cooperation
amongst
all t
ourism
stakeholders
,
transparency and accountability in financial matters and popular
participation in the
decision
-
making
processes.
URI
https://profiles.uonbi.ac.ke/tondicho/files/contribution_of_tourism_to_poverty_reduction.pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11295/100482
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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