Effects of Collaborative Cultural Tourism Activities Planning on Community Income in Bungoma County, Kenya

Teamwork among stakeholders in planning for cultural tourism activities has the potential to contribute towards local community livelihoods. However, inadequate development and packaging of cultural tourism activities at a destination leads to communities’ marginalization as they do not directly benefit from the cultural tourism operations. In Bungoma County, Kenya few empirical evidence has been documented on perceived effect of cultural tourism activities planning on community income, which justifies this study. Descriptive cross- sectional survey design was used. The study location covered Webuye East & West, Bumula and Mt. Elgon sub counties of Bungoma County. Stratified random sampling was applied to select 360 respondents. The instrument employed in data collection was a closed ended questionnaire. Categorical Linear Regression was used and significant levels sought at p≤0.05. Results showed that, local community participation in cultural events, exhibitions and galleries was most likely to earn them income which would improve their living standards. Dividends, wages, salaries and shares were the income variables that would significantly record an increment. However, commission as an indicator of income reported insignificant probability of increment. Public music performances and activities related to visit to museums produced insignificant results, a sign that these two do not directly influence local community income in Bungoma County. The study recommended the same study to be carried out in other counties in the country in order to justify this study in a wider scope involving various communities in Kenya