The role of destination attributes and visitor satisfaction on tourist repeat visit intentions to Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya

Tourism is one of world's largest industries. In Kenya, tourism is among the fastest growing economic sectors and is the second largest source of foreign exchange after agriculture. In an increasingly competitive international tourism market with emerging new destinations, mature destinations can gain a competitive advantage through repeat visitation.;This study sought to establish the role of destination attributes and visitor satisfaction on tourist repeat visit intentions to Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya. The study specifically sought to determine whether brand experience is a significant determinant of tourists' intentions to revisit a destination; to determine different social demographic characteristics of tourists and how they influence tourist intentions to revisit a destination; and to determine external pulling factors that would trigger tourists' intentions to revisit the destination.;The five variables used in the study were measured by asking participants open and close-ended questions about their opinions and comments on their visit to Lake Nakuru Nation Park. The five set of questions was used to answer the question on the role of satisfaction on repeat visits to Lake Nakuru National Park. The questions developed were based on the items traditionally used in tourism research studies on destination attributes, destination image, satisfaction and repeat visit intentions.;A self-administered survey was given to tourist as they entered the park using systematic sampling and were requested to drop them as they exited the park where the research assistants were present to collect them. Of the 420 questionnaires that were distributed 405 were returned and only 400 were found to be useful for this study giving a return rate of 96.4 percent.;The results of this research show that there is a positive relationship between tourist satisfaction, loyalty and repeat intentions to Lake Nakuru National Park. These results further confirmed that destination image has positive relationship with satisfaction and that these two factors influence significantly and positively visitors repeat visit intentions. Also that the overall experience after visiting Lake Nakuru National Park was significantly different for respondents according to age, years of education completed, country of origin and gender. However the study found a negative correlation that is not significant between destination attributes and visitor's level of satisfaction. Managers of Lake Nakuru National Park must therefore ensure that the tourists visiting the park are satisfied to enhance their repeat visit intentions and are able to say positive things about the park to other people.