The Efficacy of Heritage Interpretation at the Lalibela Rock-Hewn Churches in Ethiopia: exploring the need for integrating ICT-mediation

The inscription of a property in the World Heritage List serves as a recognition of its Outstanding Universal Value (OUV). Such recognition gives visitors the expectation that visiting the site would be a unique experience that would fulfil their visitation goals. Need therefore exists to ensure quality heritage interpretation at the particular World Heritage site. This is both beneficial to ensuring adequate presentation of the site’s OUV and visitor satisfaction. This paper seeks to investigate the level of visitor satisfaction with heritage interpretation at the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela one of the most visited attractions in Ethiopia. The study is based on an analysis of online travel reviews of the site using Qualitative Content Analysis. The findings of the study indicate that heritage guiding and interpretation at the Rock hewn churches of Lalibela is provided mainly by the local guides. The study however, finds a number of reported / perceived challenges related to visitor satisfaction, including perceived visitor exploitation by local guides and church workers, visitor harassment, dishonesty by the guides when dealing with clients, language barriers and lack of signage and site maps. It thus argues that there is room to expand the scope of heritage interpretation beyond human guides, and recommends adoption of ICTs-mediated interpretation services at this World Heritage destination

Efficacy of motivation strategies in addressing employee motivation needs in Kenya's hotel sector

This study examined the extent to which the motivation strategies used in Kenya addressed employees‟ motivation needs in the face of the prevailing socio-economic trends. The study found out that while hotels in Kenya had devised a number of strategies geared towards motivating employees, such strategies did not adequately respond to the expectations of the targeted employees. As a result, the hotels continue to experience a high employee turnover resulting into a relatively youthful workforce. This paper thus recommends that there is need for the managers of hotels in Kenya to investigate the expectations of the employees in order to tailor the motivation schemes to meet these needs and expectation for optimal results

The strategic response by travel agents in Kenya to opportunities and threats of ICT developments

While the advent of ICT has produced mixed results for the travel agency businesses, one of the differentiating factors has been how different businesses have strategically responded to the new business environment. In view of the threats and opportunities presented by ICTs to the travel sector, this study sought to examine the different strategies adopted by the travel agents in Kenya in an effort to strategically reposition themselves. The survey was conducted among 55 travel agency operators in Nairobi, Kenya using a semi-structured questionnaire. The study found out that travel agents in Kenya have adopted a number of ICT innovations to stay afloat. Among the most significant strategic innovations has been the travel agent’s increased client focus as opposed to focus on service providers. This has seen the travel agents forge close relationships with their clients through both online and offline approaches. It is imperative to note that investing in customers and developing a strong relationship marketing strategy to attract and retain them is the new area of competitiveness today. This study thus provides a new perspective to the strategic response of travel agencies to macro-environmental threats and opportunities presented by current developments in ICTs

Economic Empowerment of Communities through Tourism: A Pro-Poor Tourism Value Chain Approach

A number of constraints continue to limit participation of the local people to tourism and travel activities in the less and developing countries. Addressing such constraints has over time formed the focus of development paradigms in these countries. This paper uses analytical literature review for identifying the appropriate strategies promoting host community participation and the benefits of tourism development by giving particular emphasis on less and developing countries. Specifically, the paper critiques pro-poor tourism (PPT) and tourism value chain (TVC) approaches, in view of their feasibility for ensuring that tourism benefits the poor within the host community. By demonstrating their inherent limitations and strengths as models for empowering poor communities, the paper proposes an integrated model -Pro-Poor Tourism Value Chain- that integrates the strengths of both PPT and TVC approaches into a single framework. This framework would find important policy and practical application in enhancing economic participation of host communities in tourism. To realise this goal, the paper recommends mapping of appropriate TVC nodes, identification of intervention strategies for increasing benefits arising to those already participating in the TVC, and developing capacity of those not involved through pro-poor affirmative initiatives