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344 keying
the past 30 years has been to gradually increase the
number of tourists. However, according to the
current development plan �1997±2000), the focus is
on attracting up-market, higher spending tourists.
It is the responsibility of the government to ensure
quality service is delivered to this target market
through its organs, such as the Kenya Tourist
Board, Kenya Tourist Development Corporation
and Kenya Utalii College. The latter trains
personnel to work in tourism-related organisations,
while the former assists in financing tourismoriented
enterprises. Considerable progress has
been accomplished in recent years on conservation
through the activities of the Kenya Wildlife
Service. However, various pressures prevail on the
natural environment and major conservation
efforts are still required.
For effective promotion of tourism, Kenya
operates offices in major tourist generating markets,
especially Germany, the United States, the
United Kingdom, France and Switzerland. In
addition, the country participates in international
trade fairs and exhibitions in an attempt to
promote the country as a destination. The 1996
World Travel Market in London witnessed the
launching of the Kenya Tourism Board. It is
expected that this Board will alleviate some of the
existing problems associated with planning,
funding, coordination and promotion of tourism
in Kenya. As the world becomes environmentally
conscious of the need to reassess its needs, each
country will have to evaluate the type of tourism
that suits it best. As a matter of policy, Kenya
continues to discourage the low-budget tourists
who have contributed to environmental degradation
in other parts of the world, focusing instead on
up-market tourists who are more sensitive to
nature. If quality tourism management policies
are effected, Kenya's industry could be developed
and sustained for the present and future generations
without disturbing nature's delicate balance.
Further reading
Kenya Economic Survey �1995, 1996) Nairobi: Government
Printers.
Kenya National Development Plan �1994±6, 1997±2001)
Nairobi: Government Printers.
Kenya Wildlife Service �1990) A Policy Framework
and Development Programme, 1991±1996, Nairobi:
Government Printers.
Kibara, O.N. �1994) `Tourism development in
Kenya: the government's involvement and
influence', MSc. thesis, University of Surrey.
Ouma, J.P.B.M. �1970) Evolution of Tourism in East
Africa, Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau.
keying
M.K. SIO, KENYA
Keying is a social convention by which social
`reality' is transformed and seen as something else,
such as the presentation of a fight as mere
horseplay. In tourism, a peculiar, inverted variety
of keying is frequently employed: the `as if '
situation in which participants are induced to
playfully make believe that presented settings,
activities or events are `real', when as tourists they
may be well aware that such occurrences are
contrived.
See also: ludic; play
knowledge acquisition
ERIK COHEN, ISRAEL
Knowledge acquisition has a variety of meanings.
It has a scientific sense as well as a practical one.
From a practical perspective, knowledge is acquired
through actual experience with a product
or by collecting information from other
sources. The tourism decision process models the
steps people go through when selecting a destination.
Embodied in this process is the concept of
image formation. With respect to credibility of the
information received, autonomous and organic
causes have the most credibility, whereas induced
formation agents make for low credibility with
higher levels of market penetration.
Friends and relatives have historically been the
most highly credible source for knowledge acquisition
regarding tourism products. Advertisements,
and other induced image formation agents, are
important to create particular images for consideration,
but their low levels of credibility put them