Tourism

Appraising the role of public sector in Kenya’s competitiveness as a tourism investment destination: Hotel investors’ perspectives

“…Tourism generally, involves a multiplicity of actors and functions that require coordination in line with the destination vision. This, thus, makes the coordination role one of the most important tourism development functions of the public sector (Hall, 1994). Planning, on the other hand, focuses on the factors that influence or are influenced by tourism development including economic, social and environmental considerations (Hall, 1994).…”

“…This, thus, makes the coordination role one of the most important tourism development functions of the public sector (Hall, 1994). Planning, on the other hand, focuses on the factors that influence or are influenced by tourism development including economic, social and environmental considerations (Hall, 1994). These, in other words, form the economic, environmental and social goals of the government and public sector (Hall, 2000; Heeley, 1981).…”

“…Planning therefore reflects the policy dimension of tourism development necessary to guarantee cohesion, direction and long-term focus of tourism development as opposed to short-term initiatives (Doswell, 1997; Hall, 2000; Hall and Jenkins, 2004; Lickorish, 1991). This planning role occurs in a ‘number of forms (development, infrastructure, promotion and marketing), structures (different government organizations), and scales (international, national, regional and local)’ (Hall, 1994: 34).…”

“…The legislative and regulative function entails the powers of the public sector that are directly or indirectly imposed on the tourism industry including policies on passports and visas, environmental protection, taxation policy, social services policies, allocation of development funds and administration (Doswell, 1997; Hall, 1994). Pertaining to the entrepreneurship role, the function entails the capital involvement of public sector in tourism development particularly, in those areas that the private sector may be unable to invest in or, for strategic purposes by ensuring tourism development is equally distributed within the destination (WTO, 2002).…”

“…Pertaining to the entrepreneurship role, the function entails the capital involvement of public sector in tourism development particularly, in those areas that the private sector may be unable to invest in or, for strategic purposes by ensuring tourism development is equally distributed within the destination (WTO, 2002). Such involvement may, for instance, include provision of infrastructure, investing in tourism projects or contribution to the destination marketing process, among others (Damette, 1980; Hall, 1994).…”