Journal of Tourism & Hospitality
Open Access

Abstract

Tourists Choice of Destinations and Willingness to Pay for Environmental Conservation

Eusabia B. Ondieki*, Dorothy A. Amwata, Dickson M. Nyariki and Godrick M. Bulitia

Nakuru County is located in the central rift and has a diverse range of tourist attractions for investors and tourists. Although the attractions have economic benefits attributed to park entry fees already stipulated by the national and county governments and income from food and accommodation, there are non-financial values that are associated with intangible benefits that come with a conductive environment and conservation. The research employed qualitative and quantitative research methods to collect primary and secondary data on tourist socio-economic characteristics and their willingness to pay for the conservation of the destinations. The research used a sample of one hundred and ninety-six tourists, selected using simple random sampling technique. The study collected and analyzed primary and secondary data through descriptive and inferential statistics, while regression analysis was used to verify constructs that were adopted as scales for willingness to pay more. Tourists' choice of destinations and willingness to pay more for conservation efforts within the tourist destinations varied between international and domestic tourists; and were determined by tourist characteristics such as age, education level, country of origin, income, and length of stay in a given destination. The results show that 71.90% of the sampled tourists were willing to pay more for the conservation of the destinations, and particularly, more domestic tourists were willing to pay more for the conservation of the destinations than their international counterparts. The results showed that more female tourists (49%) were willing to pay more for conservation than male tourists (8%). The findings provide useful insights to the County Government of Nakuru to focus on promoting attractions and conservation programmes that target female tourists and recognise the less documented benefits with a focus on the landscape lens.

Published Date: 2023-10-23; Received Date: 2023-09-20