Assessing the role of domestic tourism in the development of the tourism industry :

Abstract

The study was about the contribution of domestic tourism on the development of the tourism industry in Uganda. The geographical scope of the study was Entebbe Municipality and this was chosen among others because it has a number of tourist attractions and many tourists visit these sites on a daily basis. The objectives of the study were; to find out the roles of push and pull travel motivations on the development of the tourism industry in Uganda; to find out the roles of tourist satisfaction on the development of the tourism industry in Uganda and also to find out the roles of tourist behavioral intentions on the development of the tourism industry in Uganda The study targeted 47 respondents of the total respondents from which 43 respondents filled in and returned the questionnaires making a response rate of 91%, this response was satisfactorily to make conclusions for the study. different tools were used in data collection i.e. the questionnaires and interview guided questions. Data was collected and analyzed using the Microsoft office excel program before it was used to draw conclusions about the study. The findings indicate that majority of the respondents that participated (63%) were males, whereas 37% of the respondents were females this is an indication that both genders were fairly involved in this research. In addition, it was revealed that 5 respondents representing (10%) were Certificate holders, 14 representing (30%) were Diploma holders and degree (60%). This showed that most of the participants are diploma and degree holders hence they were competent enough in giving their responses in the study. Basing on the findings from the study, domestic tourism is not an abstract phenomenon and thus, there is need to take drastic steps to promote the sector for its importance in economic development, employment creation and the other benefits that come with this particular sector. There is also need to dig deeper into some of the factors that have been emphasized in the study such as the pull and push factors that promote tourism as the study has not been so clear about what constitutes these factors.