Domestic Tourism in Kenya: Trends, Initiatives and Practices

Abstract

In 1984, the Kenyan government came up with a domestic tourism policy encouraging Kenyan residents to travel locally especially during the low tourism season. Although domestic tourism is supported for a number of other reasons, the central objective was to even out the seasonality pattern thereby preserving jobs year round. However to date it seems this goal has not yet been realised. A key shortfall is the lack of information and implementation of strategies promoting domestic tourism in Kenya. This paper attempts to explore the nature and practice of domestic tourism and how it fits into the standardised international tourism model in Kenya.