Product diversification for sustainable tourism development: exploring the strengths and challenges of Kisumu region, Kenya

Abstract

The Kenyan tourism industry has over the years relied on beach and safari tourists to the Kenyan coast and selected Parks and reserves. This has put a lot of pressure on these regions leading to negative environmental and social impacts. To overcome the negative impacts, there have been efforts to develop and market alternative destinations such as Western Kenya under which Kisumu region lies. This paper aims at exploring the viability of the Western region, specifically Kisumu for tourism by analyzing its strengths and challenges in relation to attractions, amenities/facilities and accessibility. A mixed methods approach, where both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques was used. Results indicate that Kisumu has strengths in attractions and challenged amenities/facilities and accessibility. For sustainable tourism development, through product diversification to Kisumu, the government and other stakeholders need to develop amenities/facilities (especially accommodation) and improve the accessibility within the region.