Moderating Effects of Tourism Business Networks on Tourism Backward Linkage with Enterprises in Kisumu County – Kenya Local Micro and Small

Abstract

The study aimed to establish whether the effect of physical location and types of tourism enterprises on the extent of tourism backward linkage with local enterprises in Kisumu County was moderated by business networks established by tourism businesses.  A cross section survey of 106 tourism enterprises was conducted and ANOVA was used in the analysis. It was established that the effect of type of tourism enterprises on local purchase ratio did not vary with level of business networks developed by tourism enterprises but the effect of physical location of tourism enterprises on local purchase ration varied with the level of networks developed. Also, tourism enterprises with three or more business networks and located in outskirt of Kisumu City and rural areas outperformed their counterparts with two or less networks in creating linkages with the local economy. However, tourism enterprises with two and less networks outperformed those with three or more business networks in creating local economic linkages in Kisumu central business district(CBD). Therefore, corroborative strategies among tourism enterprises in rural areas invigorates local economy more than competition among them, but increased competition among enterprises in Kisumu CBD as opposed to co-operation improves backward linkage with local economy.