Paste your eCONTRIBUTION OF RURAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT TO COMMUNITY LIVELIHOODS IN MARA TRIANGLE, KENYA
CAROLINE CHELANGAT
REG NO: SBE/PGT/001/11
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO MOI UNIVERSITY, SCHOOL OF TOURISM, HOSPITALITY AND EVENT MANAGEMENT IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF TOURISM MANAGEMENT
2015
DECLARATION
Declaration by Candidate
This thesis is my own original work and has never been presented for any award or degree in any other university. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any other form without prior notice of the author and /or Moi University
Signature: …………………………………… Date: ………………………………
CAROLINE CHELANGAT
REG NO: SBE/PGT/001/11
Declaration by Supervisors
This thesis has been submitted for examination with our approval as university supervisors
Signature: …………………………………… Date: ………………………………
PROF. DAMIANNAH KIETI
SENIOR LECTURER
DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM
SCHOOL OF TOURISM, HOSPITALITY AND EVENTS MANAGEMENT,
MOI UNIVERSITY.
Signature: …………………………………… Date:………………………………
DR. RITA NTHIGA
LECTURER
DEPARTMENT OF HOTEL AND HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
SCHOOL OF TOURISM, HOSPITALITY AND EVENTS MANAGEMENT
MOI UNIVERSITY
DEDICATION
I dedicate this work to my family members especially my parents who have supported me financially.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This thesis could not have been completed without the support of a number of people. I am indebted to my supervisors, Prof. Kieti, Prof. Sitati and Dr. Rita for their valuable inputs and for going the distance with me. To my colleagues at Moi University, my appreciation for the time and space you generously provided in allowing me to achieve this milestone.
I would also like to thank my husband David, your love and unwavering support during difficult times are hugely appreciated. You are truly a rock!
LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
ATSIC: – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission
DFID: – Department for International Development
DOT: – Department of Tourism
EC: – European Commission
MFA: – Ministry for Agriculture and Fisheries
NSWTC: – New South Wales Tourism Commission
OECD: – Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
SLF: – Sustainable Livelihood Framework
SPSS: -Statistical Package for Social Sciences
WFS: – World Food Summit
WTTC: – World Travel and Tourism Council
WTO: – World Tourism Organization
UNCED: – United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
UNDP: – United Nations Development programs
UNEP: – United Nations Environmental programs
USTTA: – United States Travel and Tourism Administration
UWS: – University of Western Sydney
UNWTO: – United Nations World Tourism Organization
Abstract
Tourism has become an important option for economic development and the cultural survival of local people. It has been increasingly used for and directly linked with rural poverty reduction in developing countries, since rural development can no longer be based only on traditional agricultural activities. This research was carried out in Mara Triangle which is a major tourism destination in Kenya and has diverse tourism activities that the local community engage themselves in in order to improve their livelihoods. Most of the research that has been done in Mara Triangle has been mainly on human wildlife conflict and conservation and little research has been done on contribution of the tourism activities to livelihoods. Therefore, this study was carried out in Mara Triangle in order to assess the contribution of rural tourism development towards the livelihoods of the local Maasai community using Sustainable Livelihood Framework (SLF) as an organizing framework. The specific objectives of the study were: to determine the contribution of tourism development to financial capital, to determine the contribution of tourism development to social capital, to determine the contribution of tourism development to natural capital, to determine the contribution of tourism development to physical capital. A case study research design was adopted in this research. The study target population was 300 locals living adjacent to Mara Triangle. A simple random sampling procedure was used to pick a sample of 100 respondents since the researcher had limited time to cover the whole community. The data was collected through the use of questionnaire. The data collected was systematically analyzed using descriptive statistics method with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and the results presented in form of tables. The study established that the community benefit economically from tourism development. The study establishes that tourism development provide employment to the residents, enhance cultural and social exchange, protects culture and local heritage, and enhance environmental awareness. These developments had led to the significant economic growth, employment creation and wellbeing of the local community. The study concludes that tourism development in Mara Triangle contributes towards the physical, social, financial and natural assets of the local community and recommends that other tourism activities and strategies needs to be put in place to ensure that the local community benefit more from tourism development.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ii
DEDICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv
LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS v
ABSTRACT vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
LIST OF FIGURES ix
LIST OF TABLES xi
CHAPTER ONE:INTRODUCTION 1
1.0 Overview 1
1.1 Background of the study 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem 5
1.3. Objectives of the study 7
1.3.1. General objective 7
1.3.2. Specific objectives 7
1.3.3. Research Questions 7
1.4 Justification 8
1.5 Significance of the research findings 9
1.6 Scope of the Study 9
1.7 Limitations of the Study 10
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 11
2.0 Overview 11
2.1 The Concept of Livelihood 11
2.2 Livelihood Diversification 12
2.3 Indicators of Livelihoods 13
2.4. Livelihood Approach 15
2.5. Constraint of Rural Livelihoods 18
2.6 Rural Tourism 20
2.7 Impacts of Rural Tourism on Rural Livelihoods 23
2.7.1 Economic Benefits of Tourism 23
2.7.2. Social Cultural Benefits of Tourism 26
2.7.3 Environmental Benefits of Tourism 28
2.7.4 Negative Impacts of Rural Tourism Development 31
2.8. Conceptual framework 32
2.9 Summary of the literature review 34
2.10 Literature gaps 35
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 36
3.0 Overview 36
3.1 Study Area 36
3.2 Research Design 41
3.3.Target Population 41
3.4 Sampling Procedures and Sample Selection 42
3.4.1 Sample Size 42
3.5. Data Collection Procedures 43
3.6. Instruments for data collection 43
3.6.1 Questionnaires 43
3.6.2 Focus group discussions 44
3.7 Reliability 44
3.8 Data Analysis and Presentation 44
3.9 Ethical considerations 45
CHAPTER FOUR 47
DATA RESULTS, PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION 47
4.1 Introduction 47
4.2 Descriptive Analysis 47
4.2.1 Gender of Respondents 47
4.2.2 Age of Respondents 48
4.2.3 Level of Education 48
4.2.4 Tourism Activities 49
4.2.5 Contribution of Tourism Development to Physical and Financial Capital 50
4.2.6 Contribution of Tourism Development to Social Capital 51
4.2.7 Contribution of Tourism Development to Natural Capital 52
4.3 Regression Analysis 52
4.4 Correlation Analysis 53
4.5 Interpretation of findings and Discussions 56
CHAPTER FIVE 59
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 59
5.1 Introduction 59
5.2 Summary of Findings 59
5.3 Conclusion 60
5.4 Recommendations 61
5.5 Limitations of the Study 63
5.6 Suggestions for Further Research 63
REFERENCES 64
APPENDIX I 70
APPENDIX II 73
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Sustainable livelihood model 17
Figure 2 Conceptual Framework 33
Figure 3: map of the study area 36
LIST OF TABLES
Table 4.1: Gender of Respondents 47
Table 4.2 Age of respondents 48
Table 4.3 Level of Education 48
Table 4.4 Tourism Activities 49
Table 4.5: Economic benefits 50
Table 4.6: Social cultural benefits 50
Table 4.7 Environmental benefits 51
Table 4.8: Regression Analysis 52
Table 4.9 Correlation 53
Table 4.10 Anova 54
DEFINITIONS OF TERMS
These are the terms used in the study to bring out the relationship between tourism development and rural livelihood.
Livelihood
A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets (including both material and social resources) and activities required for a means of living. A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and recover from stress and shocks and maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets both now and in the future, while not undermining the natural resource base (Chambers & Conway, 1991)
Livelihood security
Livelihood security is the adequate and sustainable access to income and other resources to enable households to meet basic needs (Frankenberger et al., 2002).
Rural tourism
Rural tourism is defined as tourism taking place in the countryside (OECD, 1994)
Tourism development
Tourism development involves broadening the ownership base such that more people benefit from tourism industry, skills development, job and wealth creation and ensuring the geographic spread of the industry throughout the area. (Long & Nuckolls 1994)
CHAPTER ONE:INTRODUCTION
1.0 Overview
This chapter looks at the background of the study, statement of the problem, research objectives, research questions, justification, significance of the study, scope of the study and limitation of the study.
1.1 Background of the study
About 75 per cent of the world’s people live in rural areas (Holland et al., 2003) besides top tourism destinations, particularly in developing countries. A majority of national parks, wilderness areas, mountains, lakes, and cultural sites are located in rural areas, thus making tourism as an important attribute of the rural livelihood diversification in these areas. It is in the context that rural tourism is identified as a tool for rural revitalization. An important question is whether more can be done to develop tourism within such rural areas, as a way of dispersing the benefits of tourism and increasing its poverty impact (Holland, et al., 2003).
Rural tourism takes many different forms and is pursued for different reasons. There are developmental reasons to promote tourism as a growth pole such as for regeneration following agro-industrial collapse, or diversification of a remote marginal agricultural area into adventure tourism or cultural tourism. Moreover, rural tourism preserves some depth to a world increasingly being flattened out by the forces of globalization (Tanahashi, 2010). Other reasons relate more to development of the tourism product such as diversifying a country’s image, or alleviating bottlenecks in popular sites. With downturns in rural economies over the last three decades, it is perhaps understandable that governments have given a great deal of attention to the economic benefits of tourism, particularly for rural areas attempting to keep pace and adapt to the vigorous globalized economy
As Telfer (2002) suggested, growing numbers of city-dwellers are getting away from it all in the countryside. One of the advantages of rural tourism is that it is based on local; initiatives, local management, has local spin-offs, is rooted in local scenery and it taps into local culture. In theory, the emphasis on the local can help to generate regional development. According to Sharpley and Sharpley (1997), rural tourism is increasingly being used for socio-economic regeneration and diversification. While the definition of rural varies in different countries, Sharpley and Sharpley (1997: 20) describe rural as all areas ‘both land and water, that lie beyond towns and cities which, in national and regional contexts, may be described as major urban centres’.
In Eastern Europe, the emphasis has been more on tourism as a tool for rural regeneration following agricultural collapse, while in Africa; the emphasis is more on livelihood diversification of under-developed areas (Gannon 1994). A number of studies in others countries like India have confirmed the inability of agriculture to fully support livelihood security (Unni, 1996; Shylendra, 2002; Samal, 2006; Shukla & Shukla, 2007). Therefore, supplementary sources of livelihood and household diversification strategies have assumed importance in this situation. According to Chambers & Conway (1991), livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets, including both material and social resources, and activities required for a means of living. Diversification is a process in which a person or the rural family unit builds a group of activities and goods for better ways of living. (Ellis, 2000).
Thus the sustainable livelihoods framework as stated by (Scoones, 1998; Ellis, 2000; Farrington et al, 2004) is considered a suitable tool for analysis of livelihoods because it links the broader socio-economic components of household assets, livelihood activities, outcomes of livelihoods activities, and factors mediating access to livelihood activities. Ahmed et al. (2011) asserted that it is often set out diagrammatically such that at its core is the valuation of the different capitals that are considered to underpin livelihood at the level of the individual, household, village or group. These capitals are classified as human, social, physical, natural and financial. These capitals are then assessed in terms of their vulnerability to shocks and the institutional context within which they exist. Once this is understood then interventions can be put in place to enhance livelihoods and their sustainability, perhaps by increasing the capital available or by reducing vulnerability.
Sustainable livelihoods (SL) can thus be seen as a way of thinking about the objectives, scope and priorities for development, in order to enhance progress in poverty reduction. (1998) The assets that are generally recognized within sustainable livelihoods framework, as summarized by McLeod (2001a), include natural (environmental) capital i.e. natural resources (land, water, wildlife, biodiversity, environmental resources), physical capital i.e. basic infrastructure (water, sanitation, energy, transport, communications), housing and the means and equipment of production, human capital i.e. health, knowledge, skills, information, ability to labor, social capital i.e. Social resources (relationships of trust, membership of groups, networks, access to wider institutions) and financial capital i.e. financial resources available (regular remittances or pensions, savings, supplies of credit).
Considering the poor rural areas in Kenya, a study by Ellis (2000) shows that livelihood diversification can be an alternative to overcome poor living conditions in these areas. In small and medium properties as well, livelihood diversification through the use of reliable resources to generate tourism and leisure activities can contribute to a survival strategy, maintenance and development. This affirmative can be supported considering the fact that the rural areas in Kenya are near natural resources that can be converted into tourism and leisure and the fact that there is an increasing demand for this kind of service.
Several studies done on tourism development in Kenya as a way of bringing about economic development in the country have been made in general terms with a focus on economic modernization and economic growth. Kombo (2006) established that tourism in Lake Nakuru National Park had led to job creation in the region, improvement in infrastructure like roads, economic growth in the region through the massive growth of hotels and resorts, growth in the handicraft business as well as improvement in security. Maina (2000) also established that the tourism activities in Nairobi National Park have created a substantial foreign exchange for the country among the benefits mentioned above (Owour, 1996; Kiptum 2002).
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The Maasai Mara Game Reserve is Kenya’s finest wildlife reserve and one of the world’s top tourist attractions and vital to Kenya’s economy. The Mara Triangle comprises a world famous tourist destination that draws hundreds of thousands of international tourists every year to view its amazing wildlife spectacle and to experience the Masai culture and way of life.
For Maasai populations living adjacent to protected areas, tourism initiatives are often put forth as legitimate livelihood strategies for reducing poverty, empowering the community, and conserving the natural environment (Tao & Wall 2009; Stronza & Gordillo 2008; Honey 2008; Jones 2005; Stone & Wall 2004; Barkin 2003; Epler-Wood 2002; Scheyvens 1999; TIES 1990). The assumption has been that any tourism development will eventually benefit the poor through the “trickle down “effect and that it will lead to poverty reduction.
Despite the plethora of scholarly literature dealing with tourism and development in Mara Triangle, there is a dearth of research documenting the contribution of tourism towards community livelihood in Mara Triangle. According to research by Seno and Shaw (2002), on human wildlife conflict in Mara Triangle land subdivision of the large group ranches has affected livestock rearing and despite this intent to continue raising livestock, herding has become a difficult livelihood to maintain. Lamprey & Reid (2004), on the other hand in their study found out that many group ranches have failed due to mismanagement by self-serving leaders, while smaller private ranches are less conducive to pastoralism. Due to this decline, many Maasai communities now confront
A comparative assessment of existing tourism centers on households’ livelihood is therefore necessary to give an insight of contribution of tourism towards community livelihood. This study therefore analyses the contribution of tourism on livelihoods of local community adjoining Mara Triangle.
.
1.3. Objectives of the study
1.3.1. General objective
To assess the contribution of tourism development to livelihoods of the local community living adjacent to Mara Triangle, Kenya.
1.3.2. Specific objectives
The specific objectives were to;
i. Determine the contribution of tourism development to financial capital of the local community living adjacent to Mara Triangle.
ii. Determine the contribution of tourism development to social capital of the local community living adjacent to Mara Triangle.
iii. Determine the contribution of tourism development to natural capital of the local community living adjacent to Mara Triangle.
iv. Determine contribution of tourism development to physical capital of the local community living adjacent to Mara Triangle.
1.3.3. Research Questions
The study had four research questions namely;
i. What are contributions of tourism development to financial capital of the local community living adjacent to Mara Triangle?
ii. How can tourism development contribute to social capital of the local community living adjacent to Mara Triangle?
iii. What are the contributions of tourism development to natural capital of the local community living adjacent to Mara Triangle?
iv. How can tourism development contribute to physical capital of the local community living adjacent to Mara Triangle?
1.4 Justification
In Kenya, about 79 per cent of Kenya’s population lives in rural areas and relies on agriculture for most of its income (IFAD, 2011). As a result, agriculture remains the main activity in rural areas in Kenya, whereas in urban areas, households are engaged in a more diverse range of activities. Agriculture can no longer constitute the sole economic basis for the development of rural areas and the possibility to incorporate new livelihood alternatives to the countryside has been the strategy adopted by many countries to limit migration from rural areas to towns. In Mara triangle frequent movements of animals for grazing depending on climate variation and the presence of disease bearing tsetse flies has become difficult livelihood for the local community to maintain. Due to this the local community now confronts other livelihood options.
Iorio (2010), asserted that tourism is considered as a potential means for socio‑economic development and diversification and regeneration of rural areas, in particular those affected by the decline of traditional agrarian activities. And can contribute to development and poverty reduction in a number of ways (UNWTO, 2004). Although the focus is usually on economic benefits, there can also be social, environmental, and cultural benefits. Poverty can be reduced when tourism provides employment and diversified livelihood opportunities, which provides additional income. This eventually contributes to reducing the vulnerability by increasing the range of economic opportunities available to individuals and households living in conditions of poverty. Several studies on rural tourism consider it as a contribution to livelihood for farmers who are facing decreased profits and difficulties generated by the agricultural crisis and restructuring.
In addition, Sharpley (2002) noted that rural tourism provides an opportunity to engage in activities that are linked with farming and the prospect of increasing farm income by spreading costs and probably this is the greatest advantage of incorporating tourism into the farm business. In Mara triangle there are different tourism activities that the local community can engages themselves in order to sustain their livelihoods. And therefore this study aims at determining how rural tourism development plays in generating diverse activities that the local communities engage into improving their standards of living.
1.5 Significance of the research findings
This finding of the study may enable Narok County government to understand the interrelations between tourism development and rural livelihoods and thus will be able to develop various plans to ensure that the local community benefits more from tourism.
The study will bring an understanding to the local Maasai community on what other strategies can be put in place in order to gain more benefit through tourism development.
In addition, the results of the study will enable the leaders of Narok County Government in making decision to address the challenges that arise because of tourism development in order to encourage the local Maasai community to participate in tourism development to ensure that they benefit more from tourism activities.
1.6 Scope of the Study
This study was carried out in Mara Triangle. The main purpose of this study was to have an insight into the contribution of rural tourism development in the livelihoods of the local Maasai community living adjacent to Mara Triangle. The contribution of tourism development was assessed in terms of financial, social, natural and physical capital that the local community generates from tourism development. The study was conducted in Mara triangle whereby the respondents were the local community living adjacent to Mara Triangle within a period of 3 months from January to March 2015.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
Language barrier was the main limitation the researcher faced since the community of the study area is predominantly Maasai speaking. The language medium in which the questionnaire is to be designed is of concern to the researcher. The questionnaire is prepared in English and during the fieldwork; the researcher used two language translators as research assistants to guide the respondents during the survey.