An assessment of hotel product quality in Kenya as a basis for building destination competitiveness

D.Phil.Tourism is currently the world’s fastest growing economic activity. It has also been registered as a great agent for general economic change, creating significant impact in the other sectors of economic growth. Developing countries such as Kenya and other African countries now consider tourism as a passport for development as it does not need expensive investment to initiate and operate as a national business. As a result of all these factors much attention has turned to systematic marketing of tourism with countries competing with one another in pursuit for the world’s tourists. This study was motivated by the need to create parameters that can elavate the competitiveness of a tourist destination. The general purpose of this study was to establish how hotel quality exert influence that may positively or negatively impact on destination marketing and how this can be appropriated to bolster destination popularity. The purpose was to initiate the formulation of a structured, integrated conceptual framework for hotel product/service, quality based on the normative quality expectation of the tourists and hotel operators’ strategic quality designs. A descriptive quantitative research design was used to establish the secondary objectives and to assess the five propositions that were developed for the study. Tourists and hotel operators in two major tourist provinces of Kenya were used to obtain information regarding normative and perceptive hotel product/service quality. Destination Marketing Managers employed by the only destination marketing organisation, Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) were also surveyed to provide insight on Kenya’s destination marketing strategies. They gave a position outline on the level of strategy integration as exhibited by both hotel operators and other destination management organisations in marketing Kenya’s tourism. The study established that the major attraction for tourists coming to Kenya is the unique wildlife safari, beach tourism and the natural scenery. However, it was further established that the hospitality of the Kenyan people contributed greatly in making tourists choose Kenya, and that hotel product/service quality would play a significant role in a tourist’s choice of destinations to visit as well as in repeat visits. The study also found that hotel operators and other destination management organisations neither share nor operate on a common vision as they endeavour to build destination competitiveness for Kenya. The study therefore proposed an integrated framework that may be utilised to build destination competitiveness so that the economic potential of tourism is maximised in Kenya