THE ROLE OF TOURISM IN THE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF KENYA AND BARBADOS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and evaluate the role of the tourist industry in the economic growth and development of Barbados and Kenya. This analysis has three distinct components. Chapter II examines international tourism in the context of standard international trade models. The supply conditions necessary to attract "sunlust" and "wanderlust" tourists are outlined and the supply factors in Kenya and Barbados are evaluated.Tourism's role within the domestic economies of Kenya and Barbados is the subject of Chapter IV. Linkages between the tourist industry and other sectors of the economy are examined via input-output tables. For Kenya, estimates of employment, wages, interest, profits and output generated by tourist expenditures are made for three years utilizing the Leontief Inverse technique. In terms of intermediate goods, the tourist industry in Kenya is found to be less import-intensive than the overall monetary economy. Employment generated by tourist expenditures are below what would be predicted by tourism's share of GDP and wages and salaries paid directly and indirectly by tourists are slightly below what would be predicted by tourism's share of total employment. These figures indicate that the tourist industry is slightly less labor absorbing than the overall modern sector economy and that wages paid in the tourist industry are below average for the modern economy as a whole.Chapter III presents demand functions of several industrialized countries for the tourism exports of Kenya and Barbados. Explanatory variables include income levels and population in the origin countries, transportation costs, exchange rates, promotional expenditures and political conditions including the border closure between Kenya and Tanzania. The results of ordinary least squares regression indicate that, in most cases, travel to Kenya and Barbados is income elastic. Tourists to Barbados are generally quite responsive to changing price variables while travel to Kenya is price inelastic. Promotional expenditures seem to be successful in attracting visitors to Barbados. The border closure has been detrimental to Kenya's tourist industry. Compared to most other exports of Kenya and Barbados, future world demand for tourism appears strong.