Abstract:
The Vision 2030 and Tourism County Development Master Plans were envisaged to provide a
good starting point for County tourism development; however, a number of challenges must be
addressed to ensure competitiveness in the sector. The objective of this research study was to
assess the perceived influence of infrastructure and security levels on tourism development rate in
Kiambu County, specifically to find out the extent to which infrastructure and security affect
tourism development in Kiambu County. The target population was 210 employees plus tourists
visiting Kiambu County. The sample size of 75 was arrived after using the formula; n=N/2+Ne2
(Yamane, 2012), stratified random sampling technique was used. The study used descriptive
research design while, data was collected from primary sources with the use of questionnaires. The
data was analyzed by use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), descriptive and
inferential statistics in analyzing and summaries. Respondents were asked to respond to a set of
statements on the Likert scale, where 5=strongly agreed, 4= agreed 3= neutral, 2= disagree, 1=
strongly disagree. Most respondents had enough knowledge to understand and respond to the
questions, descriptive analysis was used to summarize data regarding infrastructure and security
challenges on tourism development. Majority of the respondents strongly agreed that
infrastructure, and security affect tourism development in Kiambu County. The researcher
conducted a regression analysis to investigate the existence and nature of relationship between
infrastructure and security on tourism development. The study concluded that tourism
development is strongly influenced by infrastructure with 41.4% change followed by safety as
indicated by a Pearson correlation coefficient of .653** and 611** respectively. This relationship
was found to be statistically significant as the significant value was 0.010 which is less than 0.05
threshold. To achieve efficiency in the sector, efforts have to be undertaken to address impending
challenges responsible for the stunted growth of the Country’s tourism sector. The researcher
recommends for further research on a wider scope for all Counties in Kenya, while considering all
challenges in the tourism sector affecting tourism development.
