Abstract:
. An understanding of the wildlife tourism market is fundamental for the development of a competitive and sustainable tourism industry. It is imperative to product development and segmenta- tion, especially with regard to understanding trends in the market place. This study was undertaken to understand better the demographic preferences of wildlife tourists and to determine their preferences, expectations, and choices. Various personal and trip attributes of the visitors were considered. A linear structural relationship (LISREL) approach was applied in order to estimate the structural equation sys- tems by using its maximum likelihood estimator. Using data from 1,566 tourists who had completed their holidays in Kenya, it was found that various forms of travel based on packaging do not signifi- cantly affect the preferences of tourists. However, tourists’ characteristics and their trip attributes have significant effects on these variables. Advanced age, higher socio-economic status, larger group size, and shorter length of stay are associated with higher preference for wildlife viewing.
