Tourism destination attractiveness as perceived by tourists visiting Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya

Abstract

Tourism destination attractiveness is the driving force for tourism in terms of visitors’ perceived value yet wildlife protected areas’ attractiveness like national parks has rarely been understood in tourism literature. The aim of this study was to establish tourism destination attractiveness as perceived by tourists visiting Lake Nakuru national park. Primary data was collected through self-administered structured questionnaires. Simple random sampling was used to select the sample size of 402 tourists. Data was analyzed through descriptive statistics while Principal Component Analysis was also done to verity the constructs underlying adopted scales. The results showed that safety and security inside the park and unique wildlife resources were very attractive (M=2.14, SD=1.13) and (M=2.24, SD=0.98) respectively. The findings indicated that safety and security inside the park (M=2.14, SD=1.13) and unique wildlife resources (M=2.24, SD=0.98) were the most valuable attributes to park visitors. The study adds new knowledge to tourism literature on park destination attractiveness as perceived by tourists and recommends that for park managers to sustain park attractiveness, security and uniqueness and imperative attributes in meeting tourists’ needs and wants. Also variety of wildlife attractions and their close proximity to tourists are also important.