Heritage tourist attractions are important in the diversification of tourism product offers for any competitive tourist destination. The current status of domestic heritage tourism in Kenya remains under-researched leaving many critical areas of interest requiring more research attention and redress. These needs also have to be examined in the Kenyan domestic heritage tourism context with a view to creating and satisfying higher demand for tourists. This research expands the widespread theory of planned behavior (TPB) by adding motivation and perceived safety and security as predictors of visit intention. In total, 802 respondents filled out the structured questionnaire, of which 693 questionnaires (86%) were found to be valid. The findings of this study validated the TPB with respect to heritage visitation in a domestic tourism context. It was further established that the expanded TPB model and its variables were applicable and more efficacious in directly predicting visit intention to historical heritage attractions. These results reveal the key determinants of the willingness of domestic tourists to visit historical heritage sites. Destination marketers and managers should endeavor to enhance the five psychographic aspects considered in the current study, in order to cultivate higher intentions towards visiting historical heritage sites among domestic tourists.

As one of the oldest forms of tourism, domestic tourism remains vital for any destination especially in this post Covid-19 era when tourists are extremely sensitive to cross-border travel. Therefore, an understanding of how marketing communication channels affect the motivation, consumption behavior and satisfaction of domestic tourists is crucial in promoting this form of tourism. This study aims to investigate the influence of marketing communication channels on the motivations, consumption behavior and satisfaction of domestic tourists visiting Machakos People’s Park, in Kenya. To achieve this, a survey was conducted on a sample of 258 domestic tourists visiting Machakos People’s Park. Quantitative data was collected through a structured questionnaire and analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS software. Explorative factor analysis was performed to distinguish the push and pull motivation factors, and descriptive measures were determined. Thereafter, cross-tabulation and chi-square determination were performed to test the associations between marketing communication channels and the other variables in the study. An alpha level of .05 was used for these statistical tests. The findings revealed that marketing communication channels had a significant influence only on the consumption behavior of domestic tourists but not on their motivations and satisfaction. These findings are instrumental for the marketing communication and management of Machakos People’s Park, and similar domestic tourist destinations.