| In this study, the Almost Ideal Demand Systems (AIDS) model and the Stated Preference Method (SPM) are used to analyze demand for tourism—a key economic sector—in Tanzania and Kenya. In tandem with a review of existing tourism studies in the region, the models' findings compare the performance of the sector in the two nations and examine whether or not the region's current levels of tourism development are sustainable.;The findings of the AIDS model indicate that during the entire period of the study (1970–1998), Kenya, which promoted pro-market policies after independence, has performed better than Tanzania, which adopted socialist policies for two decades since 1967, in key tourism indicators. However, during the 1990s, Tanzania is shown to have performed relatively better than Kenya, a credit to the pro-market policies the country adopted since the late 1980s, its more natural tourist sites, and its internal tranquility. Results also indicate that the two countries are substitute tourism markets for each other, an important finding as it questions the suggestions of promoting Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda as a single tourism destination under the recently re-established East African Community.;The SPM results and the surveyed studies show that while Kenya is better known abroad, attracts more affluent tourists and has better services, Tanzania is renowned for the unique nature of its wildlife, its potential for future development, and its relatively less spoiled habitats. However, of concern to Tanzania is that most of the services that Kenya is better at providing are rated in the SPM estimation as important determinants of the likelihood of choosing a country as a tourism destination. In both countries tourism has had little or no benefit to local people, and this discourages them from conserving wildlife habitats. Tourism in East Africa has also been developed without due consideration to the environment, leading to soil erosion, deforestation, and extinction of rare wildlife species. It is recommended that in order to enhance tourism sustainability in the region, a concerted effort be made to improve services, to protect environment and most importantly, to provide more proceeds to the local people. |
