Abstract:
As a response to government spending cuts in higher education, institutions of higher education have sought ways of
diversifying their sources of income. This has made institutions of higher learning attract holidaymakers to exploit
under-utilized campus buildings during student vacations. This is a well-established practice in the western world,
United Kingdom, for example. This qualitative research was conducted in Chepkoilel University College to
determine how well campus-based tourism (CBT) enterprise is known among the Chepkoilelian fraternity.
Descriptive survey research design was adopted, and semi-structured interviews and focus- group discussions were
used to collect data. Sixty (60) respondents were selected using stratified random sampling, of strata including
students, academic, subordinate and administrative staff. Data was analyzed thematically where related topics were
categorized into major themes identified through developing a coding system based on collected data, classifying
major topics covered, re-reading the text and highlighting key quotations and finally placing the coded materials
under the major themes identified. Apart from the need to determine the popularity of CBT, the study also sought to
find out whether the University College has the potential for the development of this form of tourism. An opinion on
the appropriateness of CBT enterprise was also examined. From the findings, it became evident that there are diverse
attractions which can enhance the promotion of tourism such as the annual agricultural business fair, the annual
cross-country and the farming activities as key attractions drawing visitors to the campus. If the information
contained in this paper is anything to go by, then it can be argued that universities need not be wholly dependent on
governments and donor agencies for research funding, instead they should set about floating small enterprises to help
generate finances for their research projects, more particularly, utilizing otherwise idle resources during long
vacations to provide additional income. The study provides crucial information that might be useful to decision
makers in the Kenyan tourism industry, as well as institutions of higher education to develop alternative ways of
generating income to support their mainstream educational activities.
