<p> The Tourism sector is a key driver for socio-economic growth in most rural communities in Africa. In Kenya, tourism as an industry is the second highest foreign exchange earner after agriculture and accounts for 10 percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Homestay Tourism is a vital subsector of the Kenyan Tourism and has been promoted to diversify its products base, provide availability of beds or accommodation in rural areas, to empower the local communities economically, and enhance the quality of life of local hosts. However, little empirical evidence exists to ascertain motivations that sway homestay owners in rural areas of Kenya to host foreign visitors in their homes. The focus of the study aims to explore and describe primary motivational factors for homestay providers to offer such services, problems, and challenges encountered during service delivery within Shompole - Maasai Community of Kenya. This qualitative study used semi-structured and open-ended questionnaires for face to face interviews with 27 respondents in three out of five villages in Shompole Group Ranch. Findings of the study will assist the County and National governments, homestay providers, tourism planners and stakeholders in developing quality homestay products, marketing and ensure compliance with set guidelines for all players in the sector.</p>

The purpose of this study was to develop guidelines for a doctoral program in leisure studies/recreation in the five categories of: policies concerning students, faculty issues, organization and administration, achievement of goals, and core curricula. To accomplish this purpose, data were gathered from institutions of higher education which provide a doctoral program in leisure studies/recreation, from graduate faculty in leisure studies/recreation, and from recent graduates of doctoral programs in leisure studies/recreation. / Institutional data pertaining to doctoral programs in leisure studies/recreation was gathered through brochures and catalogs. A questionnaire was developed by the investigator and distributed to graduate faculty members in leisure studies/recreation and recent graduates of doctoral programs in leisure studies/recreation. The graduate faculty questionnaire was distributed to 116 graduate faculty and the return was 78 (or 67 percent). The recent doctoral graduates' questionnaire was distributed to 91 recent doctoral graduates of leisure studies/recreation programs and the rate of return was 75 (or 81 percent). / The data analysis revealed these findings: (1) all doctoral programs (100 percent) required preliminary work in leisure studies/recreation to be completed if the applicant to the program did not possess either a bachelor's or master's degree in the field; (2) there is a tendency not to grant graduate credit for preparatory work at the doctoral level if the student does not have an acceptable academic background in lesiure; (3) almost one-half of the doctoral programs in this study did not conduct on-going evaluations of their programs; (4) the majority of graduate faculty and recent doctoral graduates believed that the department chairperson should have academic preparation in the administration and management of colleges and universities; (5) almost one-half of the graduate faculty believed that the department chairperson should be selected by the dean while the remaining graduate faculty believed the faculty should appoint the chairperson; (6) the majority of recent doctoral graduates believed that the department chairperson should be appointed by the faculty. . . . (Author's abstract exceeds stipulated maximum length. Discontinued here with permission of author.) UMI / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-07, Section: A, page: 2243. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

A review of current literature implied relationships between leisure participation and attitudes, motivations, and self-image. Research related to self-image and--attitudes, motivations, and leisure participation was found to be limited. This study investigated the relationship of an individual's perceived self-image to attitudes and motivations toward leisure participation. / Subjects used in this study consisted of 319 undergraduate college students. A systematic random sample was selected by choosing a minimum of ten classes listed on the official list of class offerings. The first class was selected using a table of random numbers, and every 160th class from that point was selected and numbered accordingly. / Data was collected utilizing a questionnaire consisting of a leisure attitude scale, a leisure motivation scale, a leisure participation scale, and a perceived self-image scale. The attitude scale measured cognitive, affective, and behavioral components of attitudes and the motivation scale measured intensity of motivation and the combination of the intellectual, social, competence-mastery, and stimulus-avoidance components of motivations. Questions relating to personal and demographic information were also included. / Analysis of the data produced significant F ratios for two of the three attitude components: (a) affective--how one feels about leisure and (b) behavioral--how one acts toward leisure. Only the intensity of motivations toward leisure participation was significantly related to an individual's perceived self-image. The combined results of the intellectual, social, competence-mastery, and stimulus-avoidance components of leisure motivations toward leisure participation were not found to be significantly related to an individual's perceived self-image. / Comparison of personal and demographic factors with leisure participation and--perceived self-image, leisure attitudes, and intensity of motivations indicated that participation in leisure activities seemed to be more related to the individual's interpretations and definitions of the leisure experience rather than personal or demographic factors. How one perceived the experience seemed to be most important. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-10, Section: A, page: 3159. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship between the career concentration of leisure services and studies majors and their cognitive learning style and whether there is a relationship between sex and the choice of an area of career concentration and learning style. Two instruments were used and compared in this study, Witkin's Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) and Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI). Also examined were the similarities at The Florida State University (FSU) and University of North Carolina (UNC). / Of the 193 respondents, 148 were females and 45 were males. One hundred forty-one (73%) did change their majors at least once after entering the universities. Findings indicated that there was no dominant learning style as characterized by GEFT. Students tended to be slightly more field dependent (55%) than field independent (45%). On the Learning Style Inventory, the majority of students were Accommodators (38%) and Divergers (33%). / From the results of this study it may be concluded that there was no significant relationship between classification of the GEFT and LSI and that, overall, the students majoring in Leisure Services and Studies at The Florida State University and the University of North Carolina were very similar. / Recommendations are: (1) freshman students, upon entering the university, should be tested for their cognitive learning style. The results of these tests, used in advisement, could lessen the percentage of students changing their major one or more times; (2) the Leisure Services and Studies students, upon entering the program, should be tested for their learning style. Results and interpretations should be provided to students so that the responsibility of learning lies in both the students' and instructors' hands; and (3) a program should be developed that incorporates computer classification of student cognitive learning styles and then matches student personal style to a list of compatible majors. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-03, Section: A, page: 0746. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Kinesiology, School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Feb. 8, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-05, Section: A, page: 1781. Adviser: Kimberly S. Miloch.

Thesis (M.S.R.S.)--University of Florida, 2004. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 149 pages. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

<p> This study examined the ways in which NC scuba divers identify sustainable shipwreck diving activities to gain a better understanding of how their behavior impacts sustainable cultural tourism on the coast of North Carolina. The information collected by this study revealed the norms of respondents regarding how human activities affect the sustainability of submerged maritime archaeological sites. This was done by comparing diver characteristic variables in relation to attitudes regarding a multitude of sustainable shipwreck diving activities as they were defined by previous literature (Stone 1996; McCarthy 2000; Jewell 2004; Edney 2006). Results concluded that divers that belong to archaeological organizations tended to define sustainable diving activities as the literature does. The most experienced divers not a member of these groups tend to disagree with the literature when it comes to identifying sustainable diving activities.</p>

<p> This study assessed the motivation and interest in outdoor recreation activities as facilitated by a campus recreation center. The sample consisted of college students enrolled in recreation and kinesiology general education courses at a four-year public California university, and student users of the Student Recreation and Wellness Center. The study assessed each student's previous twelve month participation in outdoor recreation activities, their preference of who they would like to participate in these activities with, the reasons why they participate in outdoor recreation activities, and demographic information. The questionnaire used to collect data was the Motives for Physical Activities Measure &ndash; Revised (MPAM &ndash; R) modified to MPAM &ndash; R + Nature, which assessed the motivational factors of Interest/Enjoyment, Competence, Appearance, Fitness, Social, and, Affinity for Nature. </p><p> Results revealed that there was not a difference in the six motivational factors and high versus low motivation to participate in outdoor recreation activities. However, when respondents were grouped as having a high score on intrinsic factors (interest/enjoyment, competence, nature, and social) versus high scores on the extrinsic factors (fitness and appearance), those respondents who were highly motivated showed more interest in outdoor recreation participation. The research also showed most respondents preferred participating with friends or in groups, regardless of the outdoor activity. The evidence from this study suggests that students who are interested in outdoor recreation activities are not distinct or unique based on demographic variables. However, the results did reveal that males were more motivated by competence. Overall, students who participate in outdoor recreation activity are motivated more by companionship preferences. This research supports the idea that social interactions, whether with friends or with a group or class, are important to students.</p>

<p> Utilizing a case study approach, the purpose of this study was to examine the barriers to adopting an e-government system for online registration and online payments for programs and services of a public municipal recreation department. Through personal interviews, web site observation, and policy examination, the researcher used the data collected to identify three main themes. With these themes, barriers to adopting e-government were explained in detail and compared to previous quantitative findings. Through this research, three main themes were formed: (a) fears&mdash;lack of security and abuse by staff and the public, (b) financial barriers, and (c) preparedness. </p>

<p> The purpose of this grounded theory study was to discover the roles and challenges perceived by Chinese professional tour guides who guide Chinese visitors in Southern California. Using semi-structured interviews, this study shares the insightful guiding experiences that have revealed the working condition of Chinese professional tour guides in the United States is not promising. </p><p> Ten Chinese professional tour guides from varied backgrounds and experience levels were interviewed for this study. These guides shared their perceptions of roles, challenges, how they get into this profession, and ideas of the future development of Chinese in-bound tourism to the United States.</p><p> Based upon the recommendations from the guides, the researcher created a Market Supervision and Control System to address the various problems discovered from this study. And future studies could be finding practical methods to solve those problems, and other countries' tour guides' perception of roles and challenges for working in foreign countries.</p>