Kenya's national parks and game reserves form the pillar of the country's tourism industry, and wildlife viewing and safari tourism are significant generators of income and foreign exchange. The promulgation of pioneer national parks in Kenya in the mid-20th century followed colonial practices of “exclusion” and “divide and rule” which marginalized local communities in decision-making processes and initiation of tourism programmes and wildlife conservation initiatives. Government supported policies and programmes that focused on wildlife protection and promotion of safari tourism also accentuated human-wildlife conflicts and contributed to species loss and habitat fragmentation. This study examines the evolution of Kenya's wildlife conservation policies and safari tourism programmes, and argues that safari tourism in Kenya has privileged Western models of tourism development and wildlife conservation, with historic exclusion of indigenous communities still ongoing today, though some improvements are evident. Postcolonial legacies influence the political economy of tourism in regard to the Maasai in Kenya; inequitable power relations are illustrated with the help of a literature review as well as a case example. The study offers suggestions to guide the development of future tourism certification programmes and indicators related to protected areas and safari tourism. Such programmes should be cognizant of Kenya's postcolonial context and attend to social and cultural sustainability, including issues of inclusion, exclusion and empowering local communities to participate directly in the management and ownership of environmental and tourism resources.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the causes and effects of overtourism within the East African region. The paper examines how national governments address the problem of overtourism in East Africa and determines underlying principles and best practice in sustainable tourism certification, local governance and management in dealing with overtourism.Design/methodology/approach: To address the objectives, the researcher conducted an exploratory experience survey research design. The study examines the different articles in the subject area and interview findings of practitioner respondents. Based on a review of the existing dimensions of overtourism, the effects of overtourism and local governance, the study sought to derive a holistic (systemic and integrated) perspective on the subject matter.Findings: The paper presents valuable evidence from industry practitioners on the effects of overtourism in East Africa by classifying the effects as psychological, physical, economic and socio-cultural. Further, the paper examines how East African governments address the problem of overtourism and gives recommendations on ways to enforce, govern and coordinate implementation of tourism regulations and policies in East Africa.Originality/value: This paper is the first to address overtourism in the context of East Africa, examining different local and innovative approaches to dealing with the impacts of overtourism in an East African context.

Purpose: Globally, poverty has been a persistent problem despite decades of unprecedented growth. The purpose of this paper is to deliberate on a sustainable livelihoods and poverty eradication approach in an African context. Design/methodology/approach: The paper aims to bridge the gaps in poverty eradication strategies in East Africa by examining recent literature on livelihoods approaches and poverty eradication approaches. Findings: Safari tourism is one way of connecting poor communities in Kenya to the tourism industry. The development of community conservancies in Kenya presents yet more opportunities for communities to be integrated with the sector. The Africanization of the tourism sector in Kenya is a priority, as communities embrace tourism and poverty eradication measures. Practical implications: There is a need for the Safari tourism sector to integrate the local community’s indigenous knowledge systems, community social capital and the community’s natural capital with tourism product development and diversification. Originality/value: The paper draws on applied research and technical analysis of the unique opportunities for enhancing sustainable poverty eradication through the tourism sector in East Africa and, more particularly, a Kenyan context.

As the world continues to navigate between the “new normal” and the “next normal” of an ongoing pandemic, recovery plans of several tourism destinations are still not bringing desired results. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed long standing structural weaknesses and gaps in tourism policies worldwide. The formulation of tourism policies based on the pandemic context is therefore a need of the hour. However, due to lock-down and physical distancing measures, data collection for the development of research-based tourism policies has not been possible. In this case, evidence-based policies stand as a workable option. Drawing from the book Tourism Destination Management in a Post-Pandemic Context, this policy document proposes a synthesis of tourism policies embraced by destinations struggling in the pandemic context. Lessons show that rebuilding tourism requires policies that address structural weaknesses, advance key priorities, foster global solidarity and take advantage of new opportunities. This piece of study comes to the conclusion that tourism policies post pandemic need to be based on seven pillars, namely mitigation, vaccination, collaboration, information, promotion, education and investigation.

Tourism and ecosystems services are interdependant and face unique challenges. This book explores the challenges faced by destinations regarding the management and restoration of their ecosystem services. Responding to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, this book offers unique management solutions based on best practices from Europe, America, Asia, Africa, Indonesia and island destinations. The management techniques and strategies proposed are adaptive in nature, and they are meant to protect and sustain natural and cultural ecosystem services utilized by the tourism industry. Drawing from a rich collection of international case studies, the book adopts a user-friendly pedagogic approach, while seeking to be an essential future reference to scholars, researchers, academics and industry practitioners, destination management organizations and restoration agencies.

This study sought to determine the role of human resource management practices in developing organizational resilience in star-rated hotels within Nairobi County, Kenya. Specifically, the study sought to assess the role of recruitment and employee training in developing organizational resilience. An embedded mixed research design was adopted. The study targeted 121 managers in star-rated hotels within the Nairobi region obtained through stratification sampling where questionnaires and interviews were conducted. A pre-test was done to test the research instrument for reliability and validity. Regression analysis findings proved a positive and significant effect between, recruitment and selection, training and organization resilience. Correlation analysis findings established that there were moderate to strong relationships between the study variables. Overall, Analysis of Variance showed that selected human resource management practices had a significant role in developing hotels’ organizational resilience. The study brought perspective on the risks and ways of developing resilient frameworks to guarantee business resilience. The findings of this study may be useful in developing hospitality resilience models for a local context.