Influence of Host-Tourist Relations on Sustainable Community Development in Lake Region Economic Bloc, Kenya

This study sought to establish the effect of effect of host-tourist relations on sustainable community development in Lake Region economic bloc. The study was anchored on the Social Exchange and Sustainable Development theories, and employed a mixed method research design. The target population was 109 homestay operators, 14 County Directors of Tourism, 23,000 guests and 36,577 gazetted village elders. The stratified simple random sampling was used to select homestays operators, tourists (guests) and village elders. Krejcie and Morgan (1973) Table was used to select a sample of 384 guests and 384 village elders randomly. Data was collected using questionnaires and interviews. The questionnaire was tested for face and content validity using expert judgement, and for construct validity using Principal Component Analysis, with Cronbach’s Alpha testing for reliability. Quantitative data analysed using descriptive (means and standard deviation) and inferentially using linear regression analysis. The results indicated that host-tourist relations had a positive significant effect on sustainable community development (ẞ = 0.825; p < 0.05). The study concludes that host-tourist relations significantly affect sustainable community development in the Lake Region Economic Bloc. The study thus recommends that the ministry of tourism should foster positive and mutually beneficial relationships between hosts and tourists. Government agencies, tourism industry players, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and local communities should work together to develop policies and strategies that promote sustainable community development and responsible tourism practices. Key Words: Host-Tourist Relations, Sustainable, Community Development.