Effect of Stakeholders Initiatives on Sustainable Tourism Development in MT Elgon Region, Kenya

Abstract

Sustainability has become an important concept in relation to tourism planning and development. Stakeholder theory and Participatory and Empowerment model were used to underpin the study. Therefore the purpose of the study was to determine the effect stakeholders’ initiatives on sustainable tourism development in Mt Elgon region. The specific objectives were environmental conservation practices. Explanatory research design was adopted, employing cross sectional survey with the use of questionnaires for household’s heads and interview schedule guide for KWS staff. Target population was the 3192 households and 5 Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) management staff in Mt Elgon National Park. Sample size was 210 households and 2 KWS staff and purposive and random sampling technique was employed respectively. The validity and reliability of the instruments was done through consultation of experts and cronbach alpha coefficient calculated at 0.70 respectively. Pilot study was done in Isukha Central, Shinyalu, in KakamegaCounty. Using SPSS, descriptive statistics for mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics for Pearson product moment Correlation (PPMC) coefficient and regression analysis were used for data analysis .Research findings revealed that environmental conservation practices (β2 = 0.186, p=0.007<0.05) had a significant effect on sustainable tourism development. The study recommended that the government should develop a clear policy that could guide environment conservation for sustainable development