Community Participation in Cultural Tourism: at Kit Mikayi in Kisumu County, Kenya

This study is an analysis of factors influencing community participation in cultural tourism for poverty alleviation at Kit Mikayi in Kisumu County. The extent to which socio-economic characteristics of the local people influence their participation in cultural tourism was assessed,followed by an analysis on how education levels, as well as tourism policy framework influence participation in cultural tourism. An exploratory and descriptive research designs were adopted, employing cross sectional survey with the use of questionnaires and key informant guides to get in- depth information about the community. Systematic random sampling of households was done so as to draw a representative sample from the target population. Interview schedules were administered to the key informants while questionnaires were administered to the sampled heads of household. Findings revealed that high percentage of Kit Mikayi residents have low household income, which limits the ability to start cultural tourism enterprises. Majority have low level of education. Spearman?s correlation test revealed a relationship between level of education and community projects.