Fostering Market Penetration Strategies for Sustainable Conservation of Heritage Sites in Nyeri County, Kenya
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53819/81018102t4183Abstract
Sustainable conservation has become popular in tourism, accepted by developers and stakeholders as an economically viable, socially acceptable, and environmentally friendly model for heritage tourism development models. However, heritage tourism encounters challenges like cultural commercialization, deterioration, development pressure, marketing gaps, and insufficient maintenance. Consequently, Kenya has prioritized long-term heritage tourism development goals to realize Vision 2030. This paper examines how market penetration strategies can leverage the sustainable conservation of heritage sites in Nyeri County, Kenya. The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive survey design, targeting the local community members, tourists visiting the heritage sites, key informants from the local government of Nyeri, officials from the National Museums of Kenya, and site supervisors. The sample size was 762 respondents, 11 were interviewed, and 752 were administered questionnaires. The results of correlation analysis revealed that market penetration strategies exhibited a positive and statistically significant relationship with sustainable conservation (r=0.620, P=0.000), explaining 38.4% of heritage sites' sustainable conservation variations. The study concludes that market penetration catalyzes the sustainable preservation of heritage sites. The study recommends integrating heritage sites into the County's economic plans and employing a comprehensive approach that engages the local community at all stages. This approach should encompass these sites' social, cultural, and economic importance for the local population. Furthermore, the findings highlight the need for a collaborative effort involving multiple government levels and diverse agencies to develop, expand, and market heritage products, with due consideration for biodiversity conservation.
Keywords: Biodiversity, Heritage Sites, Market Penetration Strategies, Nyeri County, Sustainable Conservation, Tourism.
References
Abiero, P. O., Mogwambo, V., & Onyango, P. M. (2017). Influence of Marketing Strategies on Performance of Cultural Heritage Tourism in Kenya. European Journal of Business and Management Www.Iiste.Org ISSN, 9(15), 49–60.
Alhefnawi, M. A. M. (2017). Revival of Conservation Sites : A Premeditated Approach. Journal of the North for Basic & Applied Sciences, 2(1), 51–65. https://doi.org/10.12816/0037170
Alhefnawi, M. A. M., Lawal Dano, U., & Istanbouli, M. J. (2021). Perception of students and their households regarding the community role in urban heritage conservation in Saudi Arabia. Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCHMSD-04-2021-0078
Amer, M. (2019). Marketing Planning as a Tool to Augment the Visitation of Heritage Sites and Museums. International Journal of Heritage and Museum Studies, 1(1), 230–239. https://doi.org/10.21608/ijhms.2019.119042
Ansoff, H. I. (1957). Strategies for diversification. Harvard Business Review, 35(5), 113–124.
Bulle, M. J. (2020). Market penetration strategies on organizational performance in Telkom Kenya Limited, Nairobi City County, Kenya. Grossarchive.Com, 1–67. https://www.grossarchive.com/project/business-administration-and-management/34762-market-penetration-strategies-on-organizational-performance-in-telkom-kenya-limited-nairobi-city-county-kenya
Chandola, V. K., & Fu, H. (2017). Market penetration strategy of smartphone companies from China for India market : A multiple-case study. International Journal of Business Marketing and Management, 2(4), 10–16.
Chinyele, B. J., & Lwoga, N. B. (2019). Participation in decision making regarding the conservation of heritage resources and conservation attitudes in Kilwa Kisiwani, Tanzania. Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, 9(2), 184–198. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCHMSD-05-2017-0019
Connelly, A., & Sam, S. (2018). How can tourism policy influence the path to sustainable tourism development in Guyana by 2025? Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 10(5), 545–554. https://doi.org/10.1108/WHATT-05-2018-0031
County Government of Nyeri. (2022a). Documentation and mapping of heritage sites in Nyeri County. In Department of Trade Tourism and Co-operative Development (Issue July). https://www.nyeri.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Tourism-and-Heritage-Sites-in-Nyeri-County.pdf
County Government of Nyeri. (2022b). Nyeri County. Weekly Review, 13th-17th(38), 1–16.
El-Khadrawy, R. K., Attia, A. A., & Rashed, R. (2022). Partnerships for sustainable tourism development in the cultural heritage sites. In Advances in Science, Technology and Innovation (Vol. 1, Issue 3). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74482-3_5
Gebrehiwot, D. B., & Gebre, H. (2015). Determinants of tourism development in Aksum town. International Journal of Current Research, 7(10), 12150–12157.
Giliberto, F., & Labadi, S. (2022). Harnessing cultural heritage for sustainable development: an analysis of three internationally funded projects in MENA Countries. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 28(2), 133–146. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2021.1950026
Government of Kenya. (2017). National Tourism Blueprint 2030. In Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife. Government Printers.
Government of Kenya. (2020). SGDs Readiness Report: A policy, legislative and institutional review of the 17 SDGs in Kenya. Kenya Association of Manufacturers.
Guerrero Baca, L. F., & Soria López, F. J. (2018). Traditional architecture and sustainable conservation. Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, 8(2), 194–206. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCHMSD-06-2017-0036
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. (2019a). 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census : Population by County and Sub-County: Vol. I (1st ed., Issue 11).
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. (2019b). Economic Survey 2019 - Highlights. In Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (Issue April).
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. (2020). Economic survey 2020. In Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Economic survey 2021. In Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
Kothari, C., & Gaurav, G. (2014). Research Methodology (3rd ed.). New Age International Publishers.
Krejcie, R. V, & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607–610. https://doi.org/10.1177/001316447003000308
Kumar, R. (2016). Market penetration and investment pattern : A study of mutual funds in India. Journal of Economics and Finance, 7(4), 22–30. https://doi.org/10.9790/5933-0704042230
Luvusi, J., & Muthoni, M. E. (2019). Influence of market penetration strategy on the performance of Telkom Kenya Limited in Nairobi City County. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, 3(7), 175–178.
Machat, C., & Ziesemer, J. (2019). A heritage at risk: World report 2016-2019 on monuments and sites in danger. In International Council on Monuments and Sites. hendrik Bäßler verlag.
Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife. (2020). Impacts of COVID-19 on Tourism in Kenya, The measures taken and the recovery pathways. In Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife (Issue June).
Mzembe, A. N., Koens, K., & Calvi, L. (2023). The institutional antecedents of sustainable development in cultural heritage tourism. Sustainable Development, 4(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2565
National Museums of Kenya. (2020). National Museums of Kenya Biennial Report (2017-2019). In National Museums of Kenya. NMK. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003013693-4
Nyasuguta, F. (2019, April). Kenya ranked third largest tourism economy in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Star Newspaper. https://www.the-star.co.ke/business/kenya/2019-04-16-kenya-ranked-third-largest-tourism-economy-in-sub-saharan-africa/
Pirok, B. W. J., Moro, G., Meekel, N., Berbers, S. V. J., Schoenmakers, P. J., & van Bommel, M. R. (2019). Mapping degradation pathways of natural and synthetic dyes with LC-MS: Influence of solvent on degradation mechanisms. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 38(2), 29–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2019.01.003
Qiu, T. (2021). The effects of opportunity motivation and environmental contingencies on market growth strategies of African early-stage entrepreneurs. African Journal of Economic and Management Studies. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJEMS-06-2021-0298
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2016). Research Methods for Business Students (7th Ed.). In Pearson Education (Vol. 7, Issue 1). Pearson Education Limited.
Tavakol, M., & Dennick, R. (2011). Making sense of Cronbach's alpha. International Journal of Medical Education, 2(5), 53–55. https://doi.org/10.5116/ijme.4dfb.8dfd
Vandesande, A., Balen, K. van, Della Torre, S., & Cardoso, F. (2018). Preventive and planned conservation as a new management approach for built heritage: from a physical health check to empowering communities and activating (lost) traditions for local sustainable development. Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, 8(2), 78–81. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCHMSD-05-2018-076
Vinodan, A., & Meera, S. (2022). Integrated management of heritage sites: scale development and validation. Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCHMSD-09-2021-0158
Wang, S.-X., Lu, W.-M., & Hung, S.-W. (2021). You gain when you give: Constructing a sustainable development model for world heritage sites. Journal of Cleaner Production, 328, 129547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.129547
World Travel and Tourism Council. (2021). Travel & Tourism Economic Impact 2021: Global economic impact & trends 2021 (N. Jus & T. Misrahi (eds.); Issue June). World Travel and Tourism Council.
Zhang, H., Xiong, K., Fei, G., Jin, A., & Zhang, S. (2023). Factors Influencing the Conservation Intentions of Visitors to a World Heritage Site: A Case Study of Libo Karst. Sustainability, 15(6). https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/6/5370
Zhang, T., Yin, P., & Peng, Y. (2021). Effect of commercialization on tourists' perceived authenticity and satisfaction in the cultural heritage tourism context: Case study of langzhong ancient city. Sustainability, 13(12). https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126847.
