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†kenya Wildlife Service, nairobi, kenya ‡Department of tourism and tour Operations Management, Moi University-kenya, eldoret, kenya tourism is a very important source for foreign revenue for kenya. But most of this revenue is from international tourists. however, international tourists cannot always support the tourism industry, especially in years of economic, political, and social turmoil. A vibrant domestic tourism can cushion the industry from fluctuations of the international tourism market and bring stability and predictability in the industry. this study sought to address factors influencing urban and semiurban local population visitation to nairobi national Park (nnP), and suggest ways of improving it in kenya. the data for this study were gathered through semistructured interviews and discussions with communities surrounding the park. the results revealed that a significant (p < 0.001) majority (66%) of the community had visited the park. About half of the people (59%) were interested in viewing wildlife as the main recreational opportunity provided by the park. however, only less than 50% of the community had visited the park more than three times in their lifetime. the level of education influenced the likelihood of the community to visit the park and appreciate its conservation contribution. even though the lack of free time, lack of interest in wildlife, or the thinking that protected areas in kenya were meant for foreign tourists, were not hindrances to local community visiting the parks, they noted that key constraints were lack of extra disposable income, high cost of food and hospitality services inside the park for local communities, and poor marketing of parks especially targeting local kenyans hindered high visitation rates of local kenyans to protected areas. A large number (81%) of community members mentioned poor marketing as the reason for low park visits. Indeed, 96% said no form of advertisement for nnP had influenced their decision to visit. hence, there is a need for new domestic customer-oriented marketing and a more friendly hospitality services tailored to local tourists among government policy to improve the economy to release more disposable income for leisure targeting nnP and other protected areas in kenya.

Kenya is facing irreconcilable tensions by competing interests from conservationists, tourism developers and pastoralists. Concerns arising from the well-being of flora and, in particular, fauna by conservationists; tourists and commercial tourism; and the increasingly restricted use of traditional lands and herding animals by pastoralist indigenous communities, have populated the discourse of land use in Kenya. In this paper, we look into the varying perceptions of each group of stakeholders and seek to analyse the current narrative that gives priority to wildlife protection and the commercial exploitation of wildlife through high-end tourism development to the detriment of the rights and interests of pastoralism. As pastoral land becomes more appropriated, our analysis shows that the antagonistic relationship between conservationism, commercial tourism and pastoralism is likely to deteriorate. We therefore propose a more participatory model of tourism development that will allow pastoralist communities to have a voice in the process.

The purpose of this paper is to establish the relationship between grading standard as a dimension of hotel rating system and customer satisfaction. 203 hotel guests participated in the study. Survey questionnaires based on a modified performance-only instrument were used to collect data, analysed using SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 22.0. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to establish the relationships between grading standard and customer satisfaction as latent constructs of the hypothetical model. The underlying factor structure of the manifest variables in the model was established using both unidimensionality test and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The study concluded that grading standard is a predictor of customer satisfaction in star-rated hotels. This study recommends that hotel managers need to pay adequate attention to grading standard dimension of the rating system for it provides an array of features or attributes that the hotel may use to enhance customer satisfaction in order remain competitive and distinguish itself from the competition.