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Challenges of Tourism Initiative on Local Community Empowerment in Kakamega County, Western Kenya
Community empowerment is concerned with how members of a group are able to act collectively in ways that enhance their influence on, or control over decisions that affect their interest. Local residents, particularly the indigenous people, who live around tourist sites in Kakamega County, are of low economic status, they are not empowered despite the many tourist attractions in the region. The study intends to ascertain the challenges of these initiatives on local community empowerment in Kakamega County, Western Kenya. This research examined the study objectives by use of survey research design. The research targeted a population of 53325 in surrounding 6 tourism destinations. The sample size was 397 respondent sampled through stratified, simple random sampling and purposive sampling method. Self-administered questionnaires and interview were used to collect data. Data collected was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics, using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20 for analysis. The findings were; cultural festivals and artefacts were preferred by tourists, earning the locals income. In nature tourism forest trek, bird watching ,cool weather and forest herbs were major attractions earning the locals a good income as tour guides and language translators. In recreational tourism the tourists enjoyed the camping sites and forest resorts where the local community worked. The sturdy recommends promotion of cultural tourism in the region because of its rich culture that boosts the economy of the residents. Kenya tourism board to develop and empower local community in sustainable use of tourism resources. It therefore suggested a study on recreational facilities to be established as an attraction of many tourists to bring foreign exchange.
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