Wachira, Irungu, Robert2015-08-312015-08-312015http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/13474Department of Tourism Management, 105p. 2015Kenya's Vision 2030 economic pillar recognizes the important role of natural resource-based sectors. The promotion of these has a direct link with the protection and enhancement of the environment and its resources. Kenya hopes to raise the number of international visitors from 1.6 million to 3 million and increase bed capacity from 40,000 to 65,000 while emphasizing on high service quality. Whereas Kenya stands to gain enormously from tourism by the year 2030, policies and strategies must be put in place to mitigate unintended adverse outcomes such as environmental degradation. Managerial influence on environmental management is rarely investigated. In Kenya greening in hotels is a recent concept that managers are yearning to embrace. There is little research that has been undertaken to establish how management commitment influences green practices application in Kenyan hotel sector. This study therefore sought to establish the current state of green practices in four and five star hotels along the Kenyan Coast. The general objective of this study was to examine existing green practices in the hotel sector. Specific objectives sought to establish the relationship between management commitment and green practices in 4 and 5 star hotels, to evaluate the range of green practices implementation in 4 and 5 star hotels, to establish the effect of environmental awareness on green practices application, to find out possible challenges of applying green practices in 4 and 5 star hotels, to determine the impact of perceived benefits on green practices in 4 and 5 star hotels. The study used descriptive cross-sectional survey design. Stratified random sampling was used to identify the sample hotels. Key operatives were selected using systematic sampling while purposive sampling was used for selection of line managers and general managers. Data were collected using questionnaires, interview schedules and observation checklists. Data analysis included descriptive statistics to determine the frequencies, means, standard deviations and percentages for demographic variables and each of the survey items. Product moment (Pearson) correlation and chi square were used to test the hypothesis. Qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. Some of the commonly observed practices included the use of solar power, use of low flow flash toilets and recycling. While 88.9% of the managers were not satisfied with their current green practices 81.5% were focusing on improving the green concepts adopted. Only 44.4% of the managers highlighted control of harmful emissions and noise pollution in their environmental policy. This reveals a knowledge gap where environmental policies need to be reviewed regularly so as to highlight sensitive areas of greening. The chi square tests revealed that there is a significant relationship between management commitment and green practices application (chi-square value = 85.387, and P-value=O.OOO). The Pearson correlation test indicated that there is a strong positive relationship between management commitment to green practices application and perceived benefits (correlation coefficient =0.528 and P-value =0.000). The study therefore recommended that hotel managers should embrace regular environmental audits where environmental performance is constantly monitored and recorded. Environmental education and training were also considered valuable in developing awareness, knowledge, positive attitude, skills and participation in green practices.enThesis