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Benefits Of Ecotourism In Kenya

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1.0 Introduction

To study the ecotourism in Kenya, this report was written. Ecotourism is a travel to protected areas that attempts to be low impact and small scale. It helps to educate the traveller, provide funds for conservation, directly benefit the economic development and political empowerment of local communities, and cultivate respect for different cultures and for human rights (Honey 2008, 33). However, the concept evolved to encompass considerably more than simply “nature-based travel” to “natural” areas, with subsequent definitions including the importance of distributing environmental and socio-economic benefits to the local population (Honey 2008; Ross and Wall 1999; Epler-Wood 2002). Kenya is one of the global leaders in tourism and community-based ecotourism, working with the many local ethnic group to protect the environment and local culture. Many activities such as game-viewing safaris …show more content…

The most obvious and immediate benefits of ecotourism associated with local communities are employment opportunities and income generation for the host region. Community in Mara and Amboseli have businesses linked to tourism. Local communities can benefit from ecotourism economically if they play a greater participatory role in the tourism process. Economic empowerment is also related to a community’s access to productive resources in an area targeted by ecotourism( ). When ecotourism focuses on preservation of natural resources, economic livelihoods of local people may be threatened. However, the communities have other sources of income from ecotourism such as nursing, teaching, waiters, guides, plantation farming, bee keeping and fish industry, working for NGOs, game rangers, working for the government, small community projects, income from rent, compensations in the case of wildlife-human killings as well as businesses in the

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