African Conference on Sustainable Tourism (ACoST)

Permanent URI for this community

http://hdl.handle.net/11071/4926
The African Conference on Sustainable Tourism brings together leaders in academia, government and industry to:
  1. facilitate dialogue concerning pertinent issues facing the industry
  2. encourage research on various topics in tourism and
  3. provide concrete and implementable solutions to emerging issues
ACoST aims to be the premier platform for collaboration and communication of developments within the tourism sector in Africa.

Browse

Browsing African Conference on Sustainable Tourism (ACoST) by Author "Kariuki, Albert"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Community based tourism as a strategy of collaboration and partnerships in protected area management : a case Tsavo National Park, Kenya
    (Strathmore University, 2014) Kariuki, Albert
    Kenya relies mostly on wildlife as her major tourism product. The country has a widespread protected area (PAs) system in place with 9 to 10% of her land area presently gazetted as national parks, national reserves or forest reserves. These critical biodiversity areas are the backbone of a flourishing tourism sector. It has become increasingly clear to park managers, planners, and academics that no one stakeholder can dictate the future of conservation in these PAs. PAs management must appreciate the power of collaboration and partnerships arrangements with all stakeholders, especially the local communities who neighbour the areas. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how community based tourism has been used a strategy collaboration and partnerships in PAs management in Kenya. Conservation in Kenya is a product of the global evolution of nature conservation efforts, this was started at Yellowstone National Park in the USA in 1872, followed by Banff National Park in Canada in 1885.The oldest PA in Kenya is Nairobi National Park which was gazetted in 1945, followed by Tsavo National Park in 1948 (the study area of the paper). The paper observes that collaboration and partnerships arrangements among stakeholders have becomes a central theme in sustainable tourism development, and recommends that community based (eco) tourism can be used to bridge the gap in conservation between PAs and local communities. The challenge has and will always be; how to provide the local communities with resources, knowledge and skills to manage the said business ventures and enterprises.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Community based tourism initiatives and sustainable tourism development : a case of Mwaluganje Elephant sanctuary in Kwale County, Kenya.
    (Strathmore University, 2014) Musila, Paul; Kihima, Boniface; Kariuki, Albert
    Sustainable tourism refers to tourism development that meets the needs of present visitors and hosts while protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future. It emphasizes the balance between environmental, social, and economic aspects of tourism. The development of Community Based Tourism Initiatives (CBTIs) in the 1990s was fundamentally based on their potential to enhance local community support for the conservation agenda. However, for the model to be sustainable, they must provide better returns environmentally, socially and economically to the community. The purpose of this conference paper is to illustrate whether Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary (MES) was sustainably developed, as a business entity and as a community initiative. The paper findings show that that the formation of MES led to a reduction in the quality and quantity of natural resource available to the landowners and that the current resources are unsustainable. Both plant and animal diversity/populations have been noted to have reduced in MES due to illegal logging, invasive species, poaching and browsing by elephants. Landowners are unsatisfied with the benefits derived from the MES, due to low income generation and economic linkages. The paper recommends that landowners be educated on alternative livelihoods, and tourism product improvement activities in MES be supported by the government and community be involved in their implementation.