PERCEIVED INFLUENCE OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND SECURITY LEVELS ON TOURISM DEVELOPMENT RATE IN KIAMBU COUNTY

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.