A report to show the main negative and positive impacts of tourism in Kenya. Kenya is located in Central Africa and the crystal clear Indian Ocean laps the sandy shores on the eastern edge making the beaches the perfect holiday destination. As well, the equator runs through the middle of the country making it sunny and warm which appeals to the tourists. There are lots of things on offer including safari trips where tourists can see wild animals. It is a big hit on tourists because there is something for everyone however; behind the scenes people are suffering due to the impacts of tourism.
Tourism in Kenya brings both positive and negative impacts to the country. Whilst some people are affected by the millions of people a year coming to Kenya others are not and it benefits them. A lot of people come to Kenya for a once in a life time experience to see the big 5 in the wild. A hot air balloon ride is popular because the tourists get to view the animals from above on a large scale but the hot air balloons cast shadows over the enclosures which can scare the animals due to the loud noises. This can disturb them and they may be driven out.
If the animals are driven out then there will eventually be no animals for the tourists to see therefore not bringing any more money in or the main animals people may want to see may not be there making it not popular. The hot air balloons also cause a lot of noise pollution from the noise of the burner. The trailers and tractors tear up the ground which is needed for the hot air balloons meaning their habitats are being wrecked. The Tractors and trailers erode the soil and cause ruts to develop making the environment unappealing.
Soil erosion causes more soil erosion which can eventually get rid of the soil making them unfertile and just rock. If a lot of soil erosion happens it will eventually erode the whole habitat for the animals so they have nowhere to live and they won’t be around anymore for tourists to see. Soil erosion also affects the local people with their environments being wrecked, the erosion can make villages less accessible as it can erode the roads and minibuses may not be able to access the safaris by soil erosion blocking in them causing a loss of money.
The hot air balloons rides bring a lot of money into the country but they are also expensive to have and cause a lot of environmental problems. With their environments being affected by tourism food for the animals may become scarce which results in some animals becoming scavengers in the bins behind the lodges causing them to become obtuse. As they are rooting through bins some things they may find can be poisonous leading to death. The minibuses get really close to the animals and as many as 30-40 minibuses can be around one animal making them not want to mate, resulting in decline of numbers again.
With less numbers there will be less for the tourists to see so the remaining animals will get even more people crowding round them putting them off even more consequently there will be even less animals and more being driven out. The government made it illegal to drive on the roads and patrol is sent out to stop the minibuses but there is so many it is hard to stop it completely. However the tourism brings a lot of money to Kenya and tourists flock to see the animals. The money from the tourism can ultimately go into building local amenities which can make the country better off.
This would make less people in poverty and more people working as it provides jobs for the community. With more people coming and high prices they will be financially benefiting and they can therefore expand bringing even more people in, bringing even more money to the country. On the other hand with expansion of the land it takes away space of the reserves for the animals to live in making them have to compete for living space and also with the expansion local people are forced to move out in order for more hotels to be built.
Due to more hotels being built these local people can get a job and be employed so less people are on the street which is better for the country. If nicer her hotels are built, 5 star hotels, even more people will want to come and the safari will begin to develop even more. Although, the safaris bring in lots of money to the country and more people can be employed and out of poverty if the development continues and thing is done about scaring away the animals and loss of environment there will be no animals left to see.
However, things have already be done to improve this including the Tsavo game park where tourist can still see the animals but they are not harassed as there is not much accommodation, it has a low impact on wildlife and the environment and the minibuses do not drive of the roads. At this game park Kenya still benefits financially because tourists are still coming but the environment is not affected. Tourists prefer this because they can see the real Africa and it is not a large scale zoo what they can stay in England for.
Little changes like keeping the minibuses on the roads helps the wildlife so much as they can breed and not be scared off allowing numbers of them not to decline whilst tourists are still coming. The safaris also affect the Maasai tribes as they are not allowed to live on the nature reserves at is protected land. This is beneficial for the animals; however the Maasai tribes are forced to change their style of living. They can no longer be semi-nomadic changing homes when the nutrients in the grass has gone and for seasonal migration.
They have been moved out of their traditional homes and way of life into a fake one to please the tourists. As the Maasai can no longer move around freely as all the land is protected they have been forced to become sedentary and fence off their village which says that this is where we are living and we won’t move. This affects seasonal migration of the Maasai tribes and for their cattle which no longer have the freedom to roam. As they are now staying on place it is easy for tourists to find and more tourists coming to their village they are earning money and are no longer reliant on their cattle.
This is a huge change in culture and goes against their traditional ways because wealth is no longer measured in cattle but in money. There are benefits of this as the money can be used in getting medical help and education which can help them in the long term. Although, this has caused them to become heavily reliant on tourism and if the tourists stop coming they would become stuck for money. It is also beneficial for the tourists as they can begin to learn the Maasai culture and get educated on what the Maasai people are like.
If more tourists learn about the Maasai culture, more people will know about the Maasai tribe and more people will want to visit the Maasai tribes so they will be earning more money. They have a school and water supply given to them by the Nature reserves as they are not allowed on their old land. This is more reasons for them to stay sedentary because a school and water supply will better their living conditions from when they were semi-nomadic. With better living qualities the infant mortality rate will decrease as they have medication to get rid of the diseases and child birth will be smoother.
Also, because the woman will have more jobs now e. g. making souvenirs they won’t be expected just to have children and with the infant mortality rate lower the villages will become less cramped and crowded. This will also mean they have better living conditions as less people are stuck in one house and they don’t need to provide as much food for the family. This means the children won’t have to work for their parents as much so they won’t have labour intensive jobs and the children can go to school providing them with an education and increase the likelihood of them getting a proper job and more money for the family and their children.
There are positive impacts on the Maasai tribes from tourism like the improvement in their quality of living but also negative ones. The tribes have become heavily reliant on tourism but only 2 cars visit a week and the drivers rip them off. The tribes must give the drivers money or he won’t come back to their village. If the driver doesn’t come back to their village they won’t have any money and won’t be able to afford to live so they have to give the driver the money. The driver is bribing them and he earns a lot more money than he should and the tourists don’t know a thing.
The tourists may pay 4000ks but the Maasai only receive 300ks as the driver bribes the rest of them. The tribes are missing out on a lot of money and they can’t afford lots of stuff consequently. If the driver wasn’t bribing them they would have a lot better living state and more food etc. The lodges won’t help because they don’t have proof of the bribes which is bad because they are being bias and not even looking into the case. They are probably aware of it and are gaining money for their lodge.
The culture of the Maasai has changed from traditional ways because they begin to wear western clothing and not what they would normally wear. The Maasai also put on shows but it is a false presentation of their traditional ways for the tourists. Their lifestyle has completely changed and they are no longer living how they used to but their quality of living is slightly improving even though they are being bribed. Also the jewellery is now being mass produced so their souvenirs have competition and tourists don’t want to pay extra just to get them from the Maasai people.
Because of the mass production they are losing tourists or the tourists are not willing to buy souvenirs so they are having a lower income than they should be. Another popular tourist destination is Mombasa and the coast. It is the perfect destination for sandy beaches and hot weather, there is also coral reefs that people like to visit. There is plenty to do here and many tourists are attracted to the coast. Tourism on the Kenyan coasts is so big each year another 10 hotels are built which brings even more money to the country and more tourists.
Mombasa is home to the biggest port in Kenya and has a big industrial business; the port allows huge international ships to harbour there consequently increasing the number of tourists. When people from foreign countries come and enjoy their stay in Mombasa they will tell people about how good Kenya is and then other people will wasn’t to see how good it is so they will come and more tourists will come. Tourism brings a lot of money to the country and the more tourists going the more profit they can earn.
This money can go into building local amenities for the locals and the income of tourism is helping to develop the country. A lot of jobs in Mombasa are there only because of tourism so less people are un-employed so without tourism the city of Mombasa would become very poor and have low living conditions for the locals. However, some of these jobs are seasonal and the locals have to depend heavily on the amount of tourists coming. In summer they may have a job with lots of people coming so they will earn more but in winter not so many people will come earning them less.
Therefore, their job wage may be very unsteady. Tourism helps other countries to understand Kenya better (tourists learning about the culture). With more tourists telling people about Kenya and the more countries acknowledging the good points of tourism in Kenya they will want to do business with Kenya and other countries may put investments into the development of Mombasa and the coast and this benefits the country. Other countries may also help in times of war if there is a partnership involved. The great growth in the tourism industry has led to efforts of improving it.
The coral reefs may have more protection put towards them to help preserve it. There are many more jobs involved as they can work in the hotels and the more hotels being built every year provides even more jobs for the locals. Security may need improving to provide the tourists with safety and resulting in more jobs. If there are more jobs for people then more local can have jobs and their children can have an education and they will be able to get an even better job and their children can get a better job and so on and that family will have eventually broken out of poverty.
With less people in poverty the country can improve even more than already and tourism will develop even more and they will financially benefit. More cultures and heritage has been accepted through tourism and other types of culture have been preserved through tourism. This culture may have been lost if tourists didn’t keep coming back to see the culture again. Although the country may be benefiting financially and the locals there are also a lot of negative impacts. The environment may suffer as lots of trees are cut down to have space for the hotels and with more hotels being built every year the more trees being knocked down.
The water is being polluted and becoming dirty as people is leaving trash in the water. The way of life of the tourist have been put onto the locals on the coast as they begin to follow what the tourists are doing and they are leaving behind traditional ways. The Islamic girls who wear full clothes to respect their beliefs begin to be influenced by the people walking around in swimwear which is going against their religion. The clothes the tourists wear also affect the locals who do not believe on this. The tourism has also brought sex, alcohol, drugs and prostitution to the country.
Young boys, to earn money for their family, begin to become prostitutes who affect their behaviour and their health. They may receive health problems due to this and being up all night affects their behaviour and if they go to school they may not have full attention as they have not had any sleep and this causes a lack of education and they will end up being prostitutes for their whole life or a long time. Children as young as ten begin to do this and they therefore have no education as they cannot afford it and they stop going to school.
This spreads sexually transmitted disease such as AIDS through the coast and country and as it is a big killer they will probably die. As there is no cure they can’t do much about it and with little money they can’t do anything about it or receive treatment. The behaviour from tourists drinking alcohol etc. can influence young kids into drugs which is bad for the country. As well as this much of the money from tourism ends up going back overseas, many of the hotels are owned by big companies who take most of the profit. Therefore the country is not benefiting as much as they should but rather the country the tourist come from.
If the hotels do not gain as much money then the wages of the staff will be lower so the job will not benefit them as they are working really hard but only receiving minimum wage and resulting in poor living conditions. There are things that can be done to improve this and Kenya still benefits. There could be a small tourist tax that people visiting from foreign countries are contributing money towards the locals who can benefit with schools and hospitals. In Lamu (located to the north of Mombasa) they have controlled tourism which blends in with the Islamic culture.
The hotels are kept on a small scale with no large hotels but the hotels are nice and good quality so they still attract lots of tourists and earn a large profit. The money goes forward to preserving and enhancing architecture so the tourists are respecting the local culture and people. The locals are not affected by alcohol etc. and there is no mass tourism. There are still plenty of jobs for the locals and they earn more as the money is not going overseas. This way the locals are benefitting as there is more and improved services, more jobs and the tourists are not offending the locals.
The coral reefs also attract many tourists like the safaris the tourist get to view many spectacular species of animal but it also affects the animals and the coral reef. Tourists can learn about the corals and go scuba diving to get up close. There are approx. 200 different species of fish and 140 species of coral which has beautiful coral and is the home to the fish and other species. It is beautiful and many people are attracted to it bringing in money which can go into preserving the coral reefs but many people forget that the coral is living and very delicate so it can be harmed easily.
If it is harmed they are not able to see it anymore and all the fish will die as they do not have a home. There are about 20 boats at a time every day on the coral and the boats that drop anchors are damaging the coral and sea urchins break it up even more. As the coral is very delicate if people stand on it, therefore it dies. It is illegal to damage the coral yet nobody is getting punished and nothing is being done to stop it. The coral reefs are a marine conservation park yet it isn’t really protecting it.
The government should use some money they have to protect the coral or their will be no tourists in the future coming to the coral reefs because they are dead. Also on the coast many hotels have become all inclusive because the holidays are cheaper and everything is included so the tourists are happy and many people come (200, 000 Britain’s a year) so therefore the locals should be benefiting with more jobs and more tourists coming but in fact a lot of them are receiving less than minimum wages and living in really poor conditions.
The days are long as they are working 10 hours/day for 6 days a week yet a lot of the workers don’t receive the money they should and even if they earn min. wage it is barely enough to get along and they are living in very basic conditions. There is limited water available for the workers and they can’t afford medicine for treatable illness and they consequently die! The all inclusive money is going back to travel agents in the UK so they are not benefiting from this. Kennedy, just one of many workers, was a security guard but only earning ?
1. 50 a day to help his 2 children and pregnant wife, they were living in a single room and living like dogs. These locals cannot support their family and they are not receiving at least ? 3/day. If you even ask about getting a pay raise you will lose your job as Henry did he can’t feed his children anymore and is constantly afraid of losing his home. Trade unions support workers and try to make sure workers receive a fair wage the locals are grateful but it truly isn’t enough as people shouldn’t be living like this.
The hotel managers are not willing to help and claim workers are getting a fair wage- they are biased. All around Kenya there is lots of development in the tourist industry like a golf course built for tourists. It is a huge golf course so it damages natural habitats by cutting the trees down and clearing space. However there are currently 310 jobs for locals to take and many more when the golf course is fully developed. Despite this the locals living in a rural area have been blocked off from their water source so they have to go somewhere else.
The water where they now collect from is dirty and is shared with many other animals whose water supply has also been blocked off. They can’t afford the water from the government so they are forced to drink this water. Some of the sources for this piece of work may be more biased. An example of this is hotel managers because they claim that there workers are receiving minimum wage when they are not. The hotel managers do not want to give their workers full wage because they cannot benefit from this.
They may want more money for the development of their hotels or for themselves because they are receiving enough money to keep themselves with more than enough. On the other hand the locals may be bias as well as they may feel strongly about the hotels taking up land and they may say they are having worse living conditions than they are (although they do have poor living conditions). The sources and information from the Stacy Dooley video may be less biased as she looks on all sides of the story and she takes into consideration how the tourists feel and talks to both the locals and the hotel manager so it is more reliable.
She also gets lots of information from different sources as she visits many different hotels and safaris to see how tourism affects this place differently or the same. The other video where I gained information looked more to the negative impacts of tourism in Kenya so could be more biased as it was mainly only focusing on key negative points. With more money coming in from tourists it can help Kenya to become more developed and reach a higher standard of living for everyone especially the locals. However when there is mass tourism in Kenya, the quality of living is more likely to decrease.
The environment also gains a negative impact when lots of people come because they are scaring away the animals however if it is controlled like in Tsavo game park the animals and environment are not affected but the country is still gaining money to develop. Kenya needs to be able to attract people to come to the country on holiday but not to many people or the standards will go down and not just for the locals but for the tourists too. Kenya needs to make the tourist resorts with sustainable development like in Lamu so the quality is good for the tourists but it does not offend the locals in any way.
Kenya should try to manage the people coming in. The main negative impacts of tourism in Kenya are how tourists sometimes take all the attention over the locals. The prices in Mombasa increase because the tourists are richer than the locals and they can therefore not afford anything with higher prices. The Maasai tribes get a small amount of money due to the bus driver taking it but are heavily reliant on tourism. I personally believe that tourism has both negative and positive impacts on Kenya. I believe that Kenya could develop greatly due to tourism, more jobs and more money for the country to improve living conditions.
However, with lots of tourists coming to Kenya, Kenya will stop developing and the environment will be affected. An example of this is Lake Turkana which has a lot of fish and environmental factors which attract wildlife lovers however if lots of tourists go and some get too close to the animals the fish may die or decrease in numbers and consequently nothing to attract tourists to lake Turkana. I think Kenya should still have tourism as it brings lots of positive impacts but they should take more control on the amount of tourists coming and put more money into preserving the nature or there will be no safaris etc. to attract tourists to Kenya.
Also they should try to decrease the numbers of tourists because the country will still financially benefit and the locals will be able to afford to live. Tourism is a good source of money to develop the country so they should not stop tourism but try not to rely on it so heavily like the Maasai tribes. Tourism does not bring in enough money to support the whole country so other ways of money like the Mombasa ports should be used but it does help develop the country and improve quality of living for the people in Kenya.
