Contribution of Rural Tourism Initiatives to Physical Capital Assets of the Local Community in Mara Triangle

Contribution of Rural Tourism Initiatives to Physical Capital Assets of the Local Community in Mara TriangleAuthor Details: Caroline [email protected] Abstract The study objective was to determine the contribution of rural tourism initiatives to physical capital assets of the local community. Both explanatory and descriptive research designs were used for the study. The target population included the staff of Mara conservancy, the staff of the tented camps and the local people living around the reserve boundary. Random sampling was used to select 100 respondents for survey while purposive sampling was used to select 18 respondents for focused group discussion. Questionnaire reliability was checked using Cronbach Alpha test. Both descriptive statistics and multiple regression was used to analyze quantitative data and qualitative data was analyzed by the use of content analysis. The study findings revealed that rural tourism initiatives have significant positive contribution to physical capital (P=0.0000). The findings further showed that rural tourism initiatives contribute to building of schools (M=3.84±0.09), improved infrastructure and super structure (M=3.64±0.12), medical support (M=3.43±0.12) and water (M=3.40±0.11). It further concluded that it contributes significantly to all the physical capital assets of the local community. However, to sustain the contribution of rural tourism initiatives to the local community physical assets, there is need to promote and improve the product and services offered in cultural manyattas. Key words: Rural tourism, Rural tourism initiatives, Physical capital assets, Local community