Abstract
Indigenous knowledge plays a pivotal socioeconomic development role in indigenous communities. In Kenya, one of the economic sectors where indigenous knowledge can be applied is tourism which is among the country’s major income earners besides tea and horticulture. This study investigated the potential and the actual use of indigenous knowledge in leveraging the other efforts being made to develop and cushion tourism in Kenya.
The study was designed as a survey to capture the current status of the application of indigenous knowledge in the tourism sector in Kenya. Primary data was collected through key informant interviews with tourism industry stakeholders in the country. 56 participants in the study were selected through a mix of stratified, purposive and snowballing sampling techniques. The interviews were conducted using semi-structured questionnaires administered by the researcher. Secondary data on indigenous knowledge in Kenya, indigenous tourism as well as tourism sector statistics was collected through documentary analysis. The data was analysed using content analysis.
The findings of the study indicate that although indigenous tourism holds a great socioeconomic potential in Kenya, it has not been harnessed fully. Its potential is still being held back by myriad challenges such as lack of relevant business development skills; lack of adequate capital to develop and promote indigenous tourism products, services and facilities; remoteness of indigenous tourism sites; insecurity; poor infrastructure; modernisation; environmental degradation and consequences of climate change; stiff competition; and intra or inter-ethnic resource-based conflicts. The findings can be used by the Government of Kenya to mainstream indigenous knowledge into tourism by develo** the requisite policies, structures and implementation frameworks. The findings may also be used by the tourism sector stakeholders in Kenya to identify, enhance, package and promote indigenous tourism products, services and facilities effectively.
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Notes
- 1.
Report obtained from http://www.ktf.co.ke/news.asp?id=115 on 17 February 2015.
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Kwanya, T. (2015). Indigenous Knowledge and Socioeconomic Development: Indigenous Tourism in Kenya. In: Uden, L., Heričko, M., Ting, IH. (eds) Knowledge Management in Organizations. KMO 2015. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 224. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21009-4_26
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