Determinants of Consumer Buying Behaviour for the Domestic Tourists in Kenya

A Research Project Report Submitted to the Chandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Degree of Masters in Business Administration (MBA)The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors that determine consumer buying decisions for the domestic tourists in Kenya. This study was guided by the following research questions: What is the influence of market mix factors on consumer buying behaviour for domestic tourists in Kenya? What is the influence of situational factors on consumer buying behaviour for domestic tourists in Kenya? And how do personal factors influence consumer buying behaviour for domestic tourists in Kenya? The study employed a causal comparative design. The target population for this study was the middle and upper class residents of Nairobi of the 3,138,295 Nairobi residents, 878,722 of the residents belong to the classes targeted, and from the data, a sample size of 310 was established. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire, and analyzed for descriptive and inferential statistics using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. Data has been presented using tables and figures. The findings of the study on the influence of market mix factors show the existence of a statistically significant relationship between market mix factors and consumer behavior in the tourism sector in Kenya. The components examined including price, place, promotion contributed to the significance of the relationship The findings of the study on the influence of situational factors show the existence of a statistically significant relationship between situational factors and consumer behavior in the tourism sector in Kenya. Components that were examined including physical environment, social factors, and time factors contributed to the significance of the relationship The findings of the study on the influence of personal factors show the existence of a statistically significant relationship between personal factors and consumer behaviour in the tourism sector in Kenya. Factors such as age, lifestyle, stage in life and personal self-concept contributed the significance of the relationship. On market mix factors, this study conclude that place, promotion, and price are of significant importance to consumer customer behaviour in the tourism sector. On situational factors, this study concludes that environment, time and social factors are important in examining and studying consumer behaviour in the tourism sector. The study also concludes that personal factors such as age, lifestyle, and stage in life do inform consumer behaviours in the tourism sector in Kenya. This study recommends that managers in the tourism sector should aggressively promote the tourism products as a way of enhancing consumer behaviour. On situational factors, this study recommends that managers in the tourism sector should enhance holiday and vacation environments as a way of attracting more consumers to their sites. Equally important, the time and seasons for holidays should be made friendly for different age groups as a way of target marketing to enhance consumer adoption of tourism products and service. Finally, on personal factors, this study recommends that there is need for targeting advertisements on people with different lifestyles, age groups, and income levels. The ability to do effective market segmentation and targeting based on consumers’ personal factors would enhance their purchasing behaviour for tourism products and services