| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of natural resources on tourism sustainability in
Maasai Mara National Game Reserve, Kenya. The study adopted explanatory research design. The
target population was 169,220 household in Narok County, 300 tourists and 18 experts. The sample size
was 507 respondents comprising of 399 households, 90 tourists and 18 experts selected by simple
random sampling, convenience sampling and snowball sampling respectively. Structured questionnaires
collected data from the host community which was analyzed using Pearson product moment of
correlation, linear and multiple regressions. Data analyses were done through quantitative techniques of
descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of SPSS V.23. The processes Macro were used to test
the mediation effects. Results indicated that there was a positive significant relationship between climate
change and natural resources (β=0.286 and p=0.000). Moreover, climate change affects natural
resources positively as there was a positive significant relationship between natural resources and
tourism sustainability (β=0.393 and p<0.000). The natural resources controlling for climate change
predicts 42.3% of tourism sustainability. In conclusion, natural resources mediate the relationship
between climate change and tourism sustainability. Despite moderate adaptive capacity to climate
change effects, the study raises urgent interventions for the tourism industry stakeholders on rainfall and
temperature variations that positively contribute to influence the decline in wildlife populations and natural
vegetation. Tourism operators have no choice but to adopt mitigation and adaptation strategies. It is
crucial that policies aimed at strengthening climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies should
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, Volume 8 (5) - (2019) ISSN: 2223-814X
be enacted at the same time full implementation of the Climate Change Act of 2016. A need exists for
future research to use other climate change indicators other than rainfall and temperature.
Keywords: Climate change, natural resources, tourism, sustainability, Kenya
Introduction
Tourism depends on natural resources, such as water, coastlines, landscapes and biodiversity
that influence the potential attraction of destinations as inputs for the production of tourism
services and goods. This implies an input-output relationship where natural resources form part
of the raw materials for the production process. Natural resources therefore are the impetus of
the tourism industry especially in developing countries like Kenya. These changes affect the
natural systems for example; warming of lakes and rivers due to rising temperatures, bird
migration, biodiversity decline, pole ward and upward shifts in ranges in plants and animal
species (IPCC, 2007). Climate change threatens the loss of some of these relevant natural
resources (Gösling & Hall, 2006). What is not clearly known is whether the tourism industry will
achieve its sustainability with the changes in climate that affects natural resources. Projects
such as the destruction of habitats as a result of land use changes may readily interrupt the
interconnections between species and can transform current communities, and display variable
species motion through ecosystems, leading to many localization extinctions. Increased
vulnerability of ecosystems to natural and anthropogenic disturbance could lead to reductions in
species diversity when plant species can not react to climate change (Malcolm, Markham,
Neilson & Garaci, 2002) hence affecting the tourism industry through reduced floral and faunal
populations. This could mean reduced numbers of visitors to certain tourism destinations
experiencing the climate change conditions.
The UNWTO (2008) estimated that about one-fifth of all known plant species, mammal, bird,
and a half of amphibian and reptile species may be affected by African emissions. The
Savannah, tropical forests, marine and fresh-water marine coral reef habitats, wetlands and
mountain ecosystems are among the most varied and organic ecosystems in the world. The
economic foundations, particularly for the tourism industry in Kenya, are these ecosystems of
worldwide significance. However, it’s not clearly known how climate change would affect these
natural ecosystems in terms of their quality, abundance and distribution | en_US |
