The Role of “mice” Tourism in Promoting Sustainable Development in Africa: a Case Study of Kenya

Abstract

The study sought to assess the role of ―MICE‖ tourism in promoting sustainable development in Africa. Specifically the study seeks to establish the role of MICE tourism on the sustainable development in Africa, the contribution of MICE tourism on the development in Kenya and finally to determine the role of MICE tourism in sustainable development in Kenya. The study was based on the modernization theory. It adopted the descriptive research design. The target population of the study was the officials from ministry of tourism and ministry of finance and planning, officials from ministry of foreign affairs, officials from council of governors, official from Kenya tourism board and official from Kenya tour operators association giving a sample size of 104. Purposive sampling was used to select the respondents. Both primary and secondary data was used. Primary data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire while the secondary data was obtained through document analysis from publications, reports, public and personal records. Descriptive and content analysis was performed on data collected. On the first objective of the study, it is evident that MICE tourism contributed to sustainable development in numerous ways. To begin with MICE Tourism played key roles in bringing in revenue into the country. This contributed immensely to the growth of the country. MICE tourism also contributed to economic growth through job creation and development of infrastructure among other benefits. Furthermore MICE tourism enhanced the development of other economic sectors since some of the visitors to the country decided to stay behind and engage in other forms of business. Expertise was also left behind by tourists and this was cascaded to other development areas. Lastly, it is evident that MICE tourism enhanced the performance of the country through ways such as increase in Foreign Direct Investments and opening opportunities for international cooperation in the tourism sector. The combined of these and other benefits contributed to economic development in the country.On the second objective of the study, the findings show that numerous factors contributed to the success or failure of MICE tourism to enhance sustainable development. To begin with, the ability of a country to leverage on the gains of MICE tourism was dependent on its available accommodation facilities. This could go on to affect the ability of the country to benefit from the contribution of MICE tourism to sustainable development. Another notable challenge encountered in employing MICE tourism in the country was occasional insecurity and negative publicity about the country in foreign media. In this regard, Kenya was often faced with negative publicity from international media which denied the country the ability to benefit from this form of tourism; a thing that could affect development. This was aggravated by the fact the country did not have strong mechanisms for countering negative publicity. Other challenges were lack of money to advertise the country well, lack of political will, poor infrastructure, lack of strong cooperation between government and private actors and poor infrastructure. Competition from other destinations among others was highlighted as a notable challenge. On the last objective of the study, it was evident that numerous strategies could be used to enhance the use of mice tourism as a means for promoting sustainable development in Kenya. In this regard, one of the strategies suggested was putting up good and standard facilities. MICE tourism could also be enhanced through rigorous advertisement, promotion and tourist information bureaus. It was also established that MICE tourism could be enhanced through tailor made packages for visitors. When used, the ability of the government to benefit from the gains of tourism to enhance sustainable development could be enhanced.