The role of narok county tourism office in enhancing sustainable tourism in narok county

Abstract

With the increased rate of extinction of wildlife species which is a major tourist attraction in Kenya, the climate change and environmental pollution, tourism in Kenya is facing a threat of bringing less benefits to the future generation. This creates the need to make tourism more sustainable in order for it to benefit future generations. The government through the county governments has the power to control most of the activities undertaken to make tourism sustainable. This study sought to find out the role of the Narok county government in enhancing sustainable tourism in Narok county. The objectives that guided this study were; firstly to find out what the Narok county government is doing to ensure that focus is on all components of sustainability and not just the economic benefits, to determine how management skills contribute in enhancing sustainable tourism, to find out what the Narok county government has done to ensure that involvement of the locals in tourism to make it sustainable and to find out what the Narok county government is doing to the changing climate that affects the environmental aspect of sustainability. A case study research design was adopted since the study only tackled one entity and that is the county government. 20 questionnaires were issued to 20 security officers working at the county government and 16 administrators at the county government tourism office were interviewed during the study in order to get the required information. Both primary and secondary sources were used to obtain information. Primary data was collected using questionnaires and interview sessions while secondary data was obtained using already existing information from journals, magazines, websites and books. After data collection the data was analyzed using frequency tables and percentages and interview questions were analyzed systematically in themes. The findings generally were positive which clearly showed roles played by the Narok county government in enhancing tourism sustainability in the county.