lamu cultural festival survey by burac insight

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BURAC INSIGHT Research and Business Consultants

LAMU CULTURAL FESTIVAL STATISTICAL REVIEW

A BREAKDOWN OF GUESTS EXPECTATIONS,

SATISFACTION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

BY

FOR

LAMU COUNTY GOVERNMENT

(TOURISM AND CULTURE DEPARTMENT)

November, 2015.

Lamu, Kenya.

1


DISCLAIMER

The content contained in this study report; LAMU CULTURAL FESTIVAL STATISTICAL

REVIEW (A Breakdown of Guests Expectations, Satisfaction and Recommendations), is the sole

work and property of Burac Business Insight and Lamu County Government. All excerpts taken

from this report must properly cite the above named entities.

2


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Burac Business Insight would like to acknowledge the assistance and cooperation of the

Management of Manda Airport, Lamu Tourist Police and the County department of Trade, Tourism

and Culture.

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ABSTRACT

This is a study conducted by Burac Insight with the main aim being to capturing the guests’

knowledge, expectations, and observations and accessing their level of satisfaction with respect to

the 2015 Lamu Cultural Festival. It focused specifically on the guests who had attended the various

activities of the 2015 Lamu Cultural Festival. It also went further and assessed the arrivals at major

entry points of Lamu town so as to establish the proportion of passengers arriving specifically for the

event. It is our belief that this report will put the county department (which intends to sell Lamu as

the Islands of festivals) in the best place to better plan for and manage similar events in the future, at

least as far as wooing of guests is concerned.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS DISCLAIMER ......................................................................................................................................................... 1

AKNOWLEDGEMENT. ......................................................................................................................................... .2

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................ 3

TABLES OF CONTENTS…..……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

LIST OF TABLES……………..……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

LIST OF ABREVIATION…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….6

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................... 7

OBJECTIVE OF THE SURVEY…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................................................... 9

METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................................ 11

LIMITATIONS OF THE SURVEY ........................................................................................................................... 13

RESULTS OF THE SURVEY I ................................................................................................................................. 14

Passe gers’ Arri als: Co plete Break Do .................................................................................................... 14

Passengers Arrived by Road .............................................................................................................................. 14

I La u for LCF: Bus passe gers…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Passengers Arrival at Ma da Airports….………………………………………………………………………………………………………

In Lamu for LCF: Airlines passengers……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Proportio of passe gers per Airli e……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Road a d Air Arri als……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

RESULTS OF THE SURVEY II…………………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………

K o ledge of the festi al………………………………………………….…………………………………………………………………………

KNOWLEDGE OF THE EVENT………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………………

Knowledge of the LCF- So ial Media…………………………….………………………………………………………………………………

Reason to Attend the Festival ........................................................................................................................... 22

Reaso for Atte di g LCF…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Attendees Anticipation: Set 1 Questionnaires .................................................................................................. 23

Most Enjoyed Activities: Set 2 Questionnaires ................................................................................................. 25

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A Comparison between Set 1 and Set 2 (on Question 3) of the Questionnaires .............................................. 27

Concerns about Event: Question 4 of Set 1 Questionnaires ............................................................................. 28

Area to be improved on: question 4 of set 2 questionnaires ........................................................................... 30

A comparison between set 1 and set 2(on question 4) of the questionnaire .................................................. 33

Le el of fa iliarity ith the La u………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Ba kgrou d I for atio : Respo de ts' Natio alities………………………………………………………………………………….

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS………………………………………………………………………………………………….

REFERENCE………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

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List of Tables

Table 2.1: Public Funded Festivals in Selected Countries, 2014....................................................................... 10

Ta le . : Passe gers Arri als y Road………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Table 3.2: Passengers Arrived by Air……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Table 3.3: Reason for Attending LCF 2015 ....................................................................................................... 22

Table 3.4: Number of Times Attendees Have Been In Lamu……………………………………………………………………….. 35

Table 3.5: Atte dees Natio alities……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 37

Table 3.6: Kenya Attendees by Cou ty………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 38

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LCF – Lamu Cultural Festival

LCPG – Lamu Cultural Promotion Group

UN – the United Nations

UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UIS – UNESCO Institute of Statistics

SEIA – Socio-Economic Impact Assessment

EIA – Economic Impact Assessment

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INTRODUCTION

The Lamu cultural festival has been conducted in Lamu (Amu) town for the 15th year now. In each

subsequent year, the event has been bigger than the previous one, suggesting a growing interest in

the event. It is one of the biggest event events in the Kenyan coastal strip. The resources for the

event are usually drawn from donors and well wishers who channel them to the event through Lamu

Cultural Promotion Group (LCPG) - an organized group that is said to have initiated the festival

(LCPG, 2015).

This year’s festival was themed “revival and promotion of our heritage and culture” with chief aim

of ensuring the recuperation of the tourism sector in the county. The sector was negatively affected

by the security incidents that have been rampant in the mainland parts of the county. The overnight

curfew imposed on Lamu County in the year 2014 dampened the carnival mood of that year’s

cultural festival. Therefore the stakes were high and the objectives were clear for the 2015 cultural

festival.

The main aim of the survey (conducted by Burac Business Insight on behalf of the Lamu County

Government, Department of Trade, Tourism and Culture) was to capture the guests’ knowledge,

expectations, and observations and access their level of satisfaction with respect to the 2015 Lamu

Cultural Festival.

This study focused specifically on the guest who had attended the various activities of the 2015

Lamu Cultural Festival. This was done in order to ensure that only the opinions of those in Lamu for

the festival are taken into account.

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Technical and professional expertise was employed right from the point of research design to the

point of data analysis and presentation. The sample size selected and stratified ensured the findings

of this survey are, at the very least, of 95% confidence level.

This study dwelled on attendees of the festival because of two main reasons:

1) The funding available for this activity was very limited as it was not an original cost in the

festival’s budget i.e it was not factored in at the budgeting stage

2) The nature of other stakeholders of the event was obviously not as agent as that of the

attendees. It is understandable that unlike the hoteliers, organizers, residents and the likes, the

guests who came for the event leave almost immediately after the event concludes.

OBJECTIVES OF THE SURVEY

To access means through which the attendees found out about the 2015 cultural festival

To identify the visitors expectations and concerns as they arrive to the event

To capture the guests’ observations and recommendations

To access attendees level of satisfaction with respect to festival

To determine the proportion of passengers that arrived mainly for the cultural event

To gauge the attendees familiarity with the venue (Lamu)

To profile the attendees background

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LITERATURE REVIEW

According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) - the statistical office of UNESCO and the

UN depository for global statistics in the fields of education, science and technology, culture and

communication, there is need to asses all festivals not only for the purposes of determining their

success but also their social and economic impacts to the geographical area in which the event is

conducted. SEIA and EIA are much more common in developed countries than in developing

countries. Therefore, there is an urgent need for more evaluations of festivals in developing

countries.

Most surveys loosely tackle festivals attendees and dwell more on economic and environmental

assessments thereby missing important pieces of information that would best inform future festivals.

In addition, most of the economic studies of festivals use inconsistent methods, involving for

example, multipliers which exaggerate the knock-on effects of spending and employment

(UNESCO-UIS, 2015).

Festivals are a common occurrence throughout the world. From the carnival is South America, the

music festivals in Europe to the reed dance festival in South Africa, people travel across the globe to

attend these events. Below is pick of selected countries indicating the number of public-funded

festivals in the year 2014 alone.

Table 2.1: Public Funded Festivals in Selected Countries, 2014

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In most countries, cultural festivals and events are major activities and they manage to pull crowds

from all walks of life. For example, the cultural festival participation survey of Mexico in 2012

found that 60% of the population had attended a traditional festival in that year (INEGI, 2014).

The Edinburgh Festival on the other hand, thought to be the world’s largest arts/cultural festival,

sold 1,943,493 tickets in 2013, 4.6% more than in 2012. These data does not include attendance at

the many free events in the festival suggesting the number could go past the 3,000,000 mark (Stage

News, 2014).

All countries have the potential of realizing similar successes when it comes to festivals. What is

needed is a systematic approach to festival planning, supporting strategic policy and constant

evaluation and assessments (UNESCO – UIS, 2015)

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METHODOLOGY

This survey was conducted over a period of four days; that is 26th

to 29th

November 2015 by Burac

Business Insight on behalf of the Lamu County Government (Trade, Tourism and Culture

department). This was the event period of the 2015 Lamu Cultural Festival. Over this period, a total

of 379 respondents were polled basing on the assumption that the total number of the cultural

festival attendees was less than 25,000. The sample size was therefore sufficient to work with, as it

allowed the survey to operate at a confidence level of 95%, a confidence interval of 0.05 and a

margin of error of 0.05 (Research Advisors. 2006).

The population’s sample was chosen through stratified random sampling, so as to cut on bias. All the

events were categorized as strata and from each of these strata an equal number of respondents were

randomly selected. This equal number was achieved by distributing the daily target number of

questionnaires (which was 100) throughout the events of the day i.e.

� � � �� ℎ �

To further cut on the bias, the respondents were alternated between male and female during the data

collection process. This ensured both male and female had an equal chance of being selected as the

sample.

At the entry points in Mokowe jetty and Manda airstrip, a tally form was used to ensure that all the

passengers arriving in Lamu town on the 26th

and 27th

November 2015, were captured and their

reason for coming to Lamu was noted. This tallying occurred during the peak arrival hours at the

respective entry points. In the case for Mokowe jetty, the tallying was conducted from 4pm to 8pm

on the two days, whereas at the Manda airstrip, the tallying was conducted as from 11am and 5pm

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on a single day. This process aimed at identifying the proportion of visitors to the island who are

here specifically for the cultural festival.

Furthermore, the questionnaires were split into two main sets. The first set was to cover day one and

two, where it was projected that most visitors would have been arriving and would not have formed

much opinion about the event. As an alternative we sought their anticipation of the event. In the

second set, which covered day three and four, we sought to know their opinions after they have fully

experienced the event.

This variation in set one and set two was brought about by the alteration of question 3 and question 4

of the questionnaire, ceteris Paribas.

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LIMITATIONS OF THE SURVEY

This survey experienced the following limitations;

1) Financial constraint – this was as a result of the late inclusion of this survey’s cost into the

cultural festival budget. This greatly brought down the resources available for the research and

therefore made ‘narrowing’ of the research the most viable solution to ensure a quality

accomplishment of the client’s target

2) Bureaucratic delays at the Manda airstrip on the 26th

of November 2015. This challenge arose as a

result of delays in the processing of security clearance for the research assistants by the airport

security. It repercussion was the exclusion of the day’s passenger arrival through the airport.

3) Insufficient time for induction of Research assistants – Due to the delays in giving nod to conduct

the survey and in the approval of the research questionnaires, there was very limited time to orient

the research assistants to the needs and specifics of this study. This was however mitigated by

adopting a day long crash program and conducting of mock survey afterwards.

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RESULTS OF THE SURVEY I

Passengers’ Arrivals: Complete Break Down

Passengers’ arrival survey was conducted on the first and second day of the festival and it included

profiling of passengers arriving at the airport in Manda and at the jetty in Mokowe. During this

segment of the survey, we identified the guests’ reasons for coming to Lamu. The reasons were

classified as either “in Lamu for LCF” or “in Lamu for other reasons”.

Passengers Arrived by Road

This part of the survey was conducted at the Mokowe jetty and the tallies were as follows;

TABLE 3.1: ARRIVALS BY ROAD

CARRIER FOR LCF FOR OTHER REASONS TOTAL PERCENTAGE

TAWAKAL 238 100 338 35.0

TAHMEED 103 69 172 17.8

TSS 76 34 110 11.4

PRIVATE CAR 57 25 82 8.5

TAHWEEL 53 16 69 7.2

SIMBA COACH 55 18 73 7.6

TAHFEEDH 14 0 14 1.5

MUNAWAR 60 36 96 9.9

MOTOR BIKE 8 3 11 1.1

TOTAL 664 301 965

The survey revealed that Tawakal bus company had the highest number of passengers coming to

Lamu on the 26th

and 27th

of November. It was followed by Tahmeed at 17.8% and TSS at 11.4%.

Those that arrived in Lamu using private cars were 82 people which translates to 8.5% of the total

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arrivals. A paltry figure of 1.1% came to Lamu on the two days by means of Motorbikes, commonly

referred to as Boda Boda.

Graphical presentation of the proportion that came to Lamu specifically for the LCF yields the

following graph;

For the period between Thursday 26th

November and Friday 27th

November, Tawakal had the

highest proportion of passengers arriving specifically for the cultural festival, at 35.8%, followed by

Tahmeed, TSS and Private means at 15.5, 11.4 and 9 percent respectively. Munawar Transport

Company accounted for 2.1% of the cultural festival attendees while motorbikes accounted for 1.2%

for the same period at Mokowe jetty.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

36

16 11

9 8 8

2

9

1

% o

f P

ass

en

ge

rs

In Lamu for LCF: Bus Passengers

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A further manipulation of the data to establish the proportion of passengers coming for the LCF in

each of the transport companies reveals the following as indicated in the graph below;

Most of the passengers arriving by road were coming for the LCF. With the highest proportion being

observed in Munawar shuttles, Tahfeedh and Simba coach, in that order.

Passengers Arrived by Air

On the other entry point, Manda Airport, the aircraft carriers that operated that day were Jambojet,

Fly Sax, Kenya Airways and Air Kenya. The breakdown is as follows;

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

100

77 75 73 70 70 69 63 60

0

23 25 27 30 30 38 40

OTHER

REASONS

FOR LCF

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Table 3.2: Passenger Arrivals at Manda Airport

CARRIER FOR LCF OTHER REASONS TOTAL PERCENTAGE

JAMBO JET 36 5 41 33.6

SAX 27 11 38 31.1

KENYA AIRWAYS 10 12 22 18.0

AIR KENYA 4 17 21 17.2

TOTAL 77 45 122

Jambo Jet and Fly Sax had the highest number of passengers, at 41 and 38 passengers each. Kenya

airways brought in a total of 22 passengers while Air Kenya had a total of 21 passengers aboard. A

total of 122 passengers arrived, with 77 of them asserting they arrived specifically for the Cultural

Festival.

45 passengers arrived for other reasons not related to the Cultural Festival, majority of them aboard

Air Kenya and Kenya Airways planes, some of whom were unaware of the event.

The table is graphically shown as follows;

“Sorry, I’m not aware about that festival”

-This was a reply by a foreign tourist alighting from a plane in Manda airport.

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Jambo jet had the highest proportion of passengers coming for the LCF, followed by Sax at 35%. Air

Kenya had the list number of passengers at 5% followed by private charters at 13%.

Comparing this data of air passengers in terms of the proportion of passengers arriving for the LCF

vis-à-vis those coming for other reasons for each airline, the following is obtained;

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

JAMBO JET SAX PRIVATE

CHARTER

AIR KENYA

47%

35%

13%

5%

% o

f P

ass

en

ge

rs

In Lamu for LCF: Airlines Passengers

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

JAMBO

JET

SAX PRIVATE

CHARTER

AIR

KENYA

88%

71%

45%

19%

12%

29%

55%

81%

Proportion Of Passengers Per Airline

OTHER

REASONS

FOR LCF

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Jambo jet and Fly Sax still have the largest proportion of passengers coming to Lamu for the LCF in

comparison with the passengers arriving for other reasons other than the LCF. Private charters and

Air Kenya blaze the trail in terms of passengers arriving in Lamu for other reasons other than the

LCF.

Clustering all the means of arrival to the island together i.e. the road and the air carriers, the

following graph is observed;

Majority, 79%, of the passengers’ arrivals was by means of public transport buses. This was

followed in a distant second by scheduled flights and thirdly by private car means.

3% of the attendees came by means of hired vehicles whereas 1% arrived by means of air charter.

79% 3%

8%

9%

1%

Road and Air Arrivals

BUS

VEHICLE HIRE

PRIVATE CAR

SCHEDULED FLIGHT

AIR CHARTER

LEGEND

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PERSONAL REFERENCE

44%

SOCIAL MEDIA 27%

TV 14%

RADIO ADVERT 5%

NEWSPAPER ADVERT

4%

ORGANISERS' INVITE

4%

OTHER 2%

KNOWLEDGE OF EVENT

RESULTS OF THE SURVEY II

This is the part of the survey that was conducted in Amu Island in the various activities of the

cultural festival. It represents the attendees’ responses to the questionnaires.

Knowledge of the Festival

The first question asked to respondents was how they found out about this year’s cultural festival.

The responses were as follows:

Majority of the attendees (44%) found out about the event through personal reference (friends,

colleagues and relatives).

In addition, social media (26%) is the second largest source of information on the existence of the

Lamu cultural festival.

The option of social media was further broken down into its constituent components and the

following was observed:

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All the social media responses STRICTLY ranged between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and

Whatsapp as shown above.

Television, Radio and newspaper adverts informed 14%, 5% and 4% of the attendees, respectively.

This is to say that 23% of the cultural festival attendees cited the mass media fraternity as the source

through which they found out about the 2015 Lamu Cultural Festival.

4% of the attendees revealed that they became aware of this year’s cultural festival as a result of

direct invitation by organizers of the event.

2% of the respondents cited a number of other reasons other than the ones mentioned above.

89% 9% 1% 1% 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Facebook Twitter Instagram Whatsapp

% o

f A

tte

nd

ee

s

Social Media Category

Knowledge of the LCF - Social Media

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Reason for Attend the Festival

In seeking to find out the reason for the attendees to choose to attend the event, we asked each

respondent, “Why did you choose to attend this festival?” The responses were diverse in terms of

wording but they all dwelt on the following reasons shown in the table below:

Table 3.3: Reason for Attending LCF 2015

Reason for Attending Festival Percentage

Learn about Lamu culture 36 %

Looking for Unique & Interesting Experience 23%

Have Fun 23%

Heard a Lot about the festivals 6%

Visit Lamu Online Campaign 4%

Past Experience 3%

Participants in the events 2%

To Socialize 2%

Work-related 1%

As revealed by the study, 36% of the attendees cited the desire to learn about Lamu culture as their

reason to attend the 2015 Lamu Cultural Festival. 23% dwelled on the reason that they were in

search of a unique and exciting experience as their reason to attend the festival, whereas another

23% cited the need to have fun as their main reason for attending the festival.

Also important to mention is the fact that 4% mentioned that there reason to come to Lamu was as a

result of the online campaign conducted by “Visit Lamu” accounts. This is a proportion that cited

their sole reason to attend the festival is persuasion by the online movement.

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The data above can be graphical presented as follows:

Attendees Anticipation: Set 1 Questionnaires

In order to understand the attendees’ anticipation, we asked them, during the beginning of the

festivals, what were the good things they were expecting to see at the event? This question was also

asked to the passengers arriving for the cultural festival at the major entry points of Lamu town i.e.

Mokowe jetty and Manda airport. The specific objective here was to precisely identify the things

they were looking forward to at the event.

36%

23%

23%

6%

4% 3%

2%

1%

2%

Reason For Attending LCF

Learn about Lamu culture

Looking for Unique & Interesting

Experience

Have Fun

Heard a Lot about the festivals

Visit Lamu Online Campaign

Past Experience

Participants in the events

Work-related

“…Lamu looks really great on (its) Facebook page (Visit Lamu). I’d like to see all that stuff…”

-Respondent, on arrival at Manda Airport

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The attendees’ responses were as follows:

26% of the attendees were looking forward to the Dhow and Kasa race competitions. This was

followed closely with Donkey competition at 25%. These two events (Dhow/Kasa race and Donkey

race) accounted for 51% of the attendees’ anticipations of the event. This is to say that more than

half of those who attended the 2015 Lamu cultural festival came to the event with the anticipation of

experiencing the dhow/Kasa race and donkey race.

Traditional dances were looked forward to by 13% of the attendees, whereas 12% looked forward to

the music concerts. Swimming competition and the Swahili cuisine were looked forward to by 7%

and 4% of the attendees, respectively.

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25

13

12

8 7

4 3

2 1

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

% o

f A

tte

nd

ee

s

Good Things Anticipated

Dhow & Kasa race

Donkey race

Traditional dances

Music Concerts

Expect Everything to be Good

Swimming competition

Swahili food

Cultural displays

Other

Hospitality of Lamu people

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The survey also found out that 8% of the attendees were looking forward to aspect of the festival.

They anticipated everything to be good and as a result they wanted to see it all.

The cultural displays, mainly conducted at the Mkunguni-KPA area, were looked forward to by 3%

of the attendees and a paltry 1% cited the hospitality of Lamu people as the major thing they were

looking forward to in the event.

However, 2% of the sampled attendees cited numerous other items they were looking forward to

other than the ones listed above.

Most Enjoyed Activities: Set 2 Questionnaires

Towards the conclusion of the festivals, we asked the sampled attendees what they liked most about

the festival. The aim here was to establish what they enjoyed most in their experience of the 2015

cultural festival. The responses were pooled together and summarized as follows:

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Donkey race and dhow/Kasa race seemed to be the most enjoyed activities. They were each cited by

26% of the respondents as the most liked element of the 2015 Lamu Cultural Festival. Traditional

dances followed suit as the most enjoyed activity at 18%. Swimming and Music concerts were each

chosen by 8% and 7% of the respondents as the most enjoyed activities.

Food bazaar and cultural displays won the hearts of 5% and 4% of the respondents. A further 2% of

the attendees sampled cited the friendliness of Lamu people as the thing they liked most about the

LCF.

26 26

18

8 7

5 4

2

5

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

% o

f A

tte

nd

ee

s

Most Enjoyed Activities

Donkey race

Dhow & Kasa race

Traditional dances

Swimming

competition

Music Concerts

Food bazaar

Cultural displays

Friendly people

28


5% of those sampled cited other activities other than the one mentioned above. These activities were

clustered together and resulted in the composite figure of 5%.

A Comparison between Set 1 and Set 2 (on Question 3) of the Questionnaires

Question 3 for set 1 was designed to find out the attendees anticipation and expectations as the

festival was commencing. On the other hand, for set 2, the question was varied so as to depict the

extent to which the attendees’ expectations were met.

Clustering together similar responses for question 3 of set 1 and 2 questionnaires, the results

obtained are as follows;

25 26 13 7 12 4 3 1 2 8

26 26 18

8 7 5 4 2

5 0

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Set 1(Entry) Questionnaire and 2 (Exit)

Questionnaire

Set 1

Set 2

29


It is evident that the Dhow/Kasa race and the donkey race met the attendees’ expectations. They

were both the most sought after events of the festival and also the most enjoyed activities by the

conclusion of the festival. Each of them averaged 26% of the total responses of the sampled

attendees.

The traditional dances surpassed expectations as far as the survey of the 2015 LCF is concerned.

Despite being sought after by 13% of the attendees before the activities, it was cited by 18% of the

respondents as the most enjoyed activity of the event. This represents a 5% increase, which is

undoubtedly statistically significant.

On the other hand, music concerts seem to have polled way below expectations. The gap between

those who expected it be the most interesting and those that actually found it most interesting is 5%.

It is vital to note that, 8% of the respondents expressed that they expected everything to be good

about the festival. However, upon the conclusion of the event, none of the respondents (0.00%)

expressed that they liked everything about the event, alluding to the fact that all of the attendees had

their own preferred specific activities.

Concerns about Event: Question 4 of Set 1 Questionnaires

This survey aimed to bring out the attendees concerns by asking the question, “Which are your

biggest concerns about coming to this event?” through asking this question, we were able to

understand the visitors reservations about the festival (activities. organization and its venue) and

later on try to gauge if the reservations still hold by asking a follow up question on the same in the

second set (set 2) of questionnaires.

The respondents’ answers were organized and presented as follows;

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As the event was commencing and the guests arriving, 36% of the attendees cited security as their

major concern. This may have been contributed by the overzealous media reports about security

incidents in Lamu County. This was the largest single concern in the 2015 Lamu Cultural Festival.

Also related to security is that 5% of the respondents cited the security checks on the road to Lamu

as their main concern. They probably felt bothered by the numerous stops and searches at various

roadblocks along the Lamu-Malindi Road.

Event Security

36%

None 34%

Bad road 11%

Weather 7%

5%

4%

3%

Concerns about LCF Event

Security Checks During Journey Accomodation Others

31


Interesting to note is that 34% of the respondents said they have absolutely no concerns about

coming to the festival in Lamu. This represents a third of all the attendees probably expressing

confidence in Lamu as the venue of the festival.

7% of the respondents cited the weather as their biggest concern. This may have been caused by the

fact that the festival coincided with the time the country was in an el-Niño alert mode. Therefore

some attendees might have felt the weariness caused by the el-Niño’s wrath.

For 11% of the respondents, the access road to Lamu was there major concern. It should be noted

that the road to Lamu is murram (lateritic) and is extremely rough especially in the stretch between

Gamba and Hindi town.

Accommodation was a concern to only 4% of the respondents. This was the proportion of attendees

who were uncertain about the quality and availability of guests’ accommodation.

Last, 3% of the respondents cited various other reasons other than the ones mentioned above. These

reasons were compiled and added up to the percentage given above.

Areas to Improve on: Question 4 of Set 2 Questionnaires

After seeking to establish the attendees concerns, we then sought to establish areas requiring

improvement, from the attendees’ perspective. The respondents were asked, “Which areas do you

think this event needs to improve on?” This question mainly served to assess if the concerns cited in

the fourth question of set 1 questionnaires still hold, as at the end of the event.

The responses to this question were as follows:

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Security, which was the biggest concerns for the attendees sampled, was cited by a majority of the

respondents as the area that needed most improvement. It polled at 37%, representing the single

largest component cited for improvements. The security incident that occurred during the donkey

race competition which resulted in a police officer drawing a gun and firing into the air really shook

the attendees present.

Sanitation of Lamu as a venue of the event really needs to be improved on. This was a proposal of

16% of the respondents. The dirt along the streets, the open sewer lines, the donkey excrement and

solid waste along the seafront were the items the respondents cited to show the dire need for

sanitation improvement.

Event Security 37%

Sanitation 16%

None 13% Event

Organisation 10%

6%

5%

5%

4%

2%

2%

Areas to Improve

Access Road To Lamu

Venues (Bigger & Shaded)

Number of Events (Increase)

Increase Participants' Allowance

Accomodation

Others

33


According to 13% of the respondents, the event was largely up to standard such that they could not

identify any areas that needed to be improved on. This proportion saw everything to be up to

standard.

10% of the respondents thought that organization of the cultural event needed to improve on. Most

were particularly displeased with how the coordination of events was done, the inability of

organizers to adhere to schedule and the lack of an effective means for dissemination of the fete’s

information to the guests.

6% of the respondents thought that the access road to Lamu needs to be improved on, specifically to

be tarmacked and smoothened. Another 2% thought that the accommodation condition of Lamu

needed to be improved. This was largely due to the fact that they hustled a great deal to secure

accommodation during the cultural festival.

5% of the respondents proposed that the number of events should be increased and that the general

duration of the fete be increased from the current four days. A further 5% thought that most venues

“…I saw some nyama choma (mshikaki) and walked toward the vendor at Equity Bank

to buy some. But then I stepped on donkey poo and my appetite fizzled…”

-A Domestic Tourist during Food Bazaar

I enjoyed the cultural displays but people in charge of them should be more active and more

stations should be put in place and scattered over a wider perimeter and visitors to be provided

with a map of where activities take place.

-A respondent at the Cultural Display

34


for the cultural festival activities needed to be improved on by way of expanding them to increase

their capacity and in the case of outdoor events, the venues be shaded.

The participants allowance was cited by 4% of the respondents as an area which should be improved

on. Many lamented that the amount paid to participants they interacted with was relatively very low.

A Comparison between Set 1 and Set 2 (on Question 4) of the Questionnaires

In order to compare the festival’s shortcomings before and after the event, we have compared the

attendees concerns about the event before the event and their concerns after the event. This was done

by a comparison of the responses for question 4 of set 1 and 2 as shown next;

36 33 11 7 4

0 5 0 0 0 0 3 37 13 6 0 2 16 0 5 5 4 10 2 0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Comparison of Question 4: Set 1 and 2

Set 1 (Entry

Questionnaires)

Set 2 (Exit

Questionnaires)

35


The proportion of those not impressed by the security of the event increased marginally after the

event, by a single percentage point. Since most of the respondents were citing the security incident

during the donkey race, it is possible to confidently say that had the incident not happened, the

proportion of those citing security for improvement would have substantially decreased.

The proportion of attendees that had absolutely no concerns about the event decreased by 20%, from

33% to 13%, as at the conclusion of the event. This indicates that as the guests arrived and settled,

they began noticing the inadequacies of the festival.

Sanitation, which was never a concern as at the beginning of the festival, became a major concern

and an area requiring improvement as per the respondents’ opinion by the end of the festival. It

polled at 16%. This is a large proportion that undoubtedly can’t be ignored.

The proportion that cites bad roads, accommodation and security checks decreased by 5, 2 and 5

percents respectively. Those citing other outlying reasons decreased marginally from 3 to 2 percent.

Sanitation, Security Checks, Venues Number of Events, Participants' Allowance and Event

Organization were cited as areas for improvement by a combined 39% of the respondents, even

though they were never a concern as at the beginning of the festival. They are however event

management related and can be easily looked into for the purposes of rectification.

“Public toilets need to be put in place especially for those staying in guests far

from the venue…”

-Attendee at Saturday Night Concert

36


Level of Familiarity with the Lamu

To gauge the level of attendees’ familiarity with Lamu as the venue of the cultural festival, we asked

the respondents, “Is it your first time to be in Lamu; and if not, how many times have you been here

before?”

“0” was used to denote those who have never been to Lamu before, whereas those who were here for

the second, third, fourth and fifth time assigned numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. Those here for

the sixth time and above are assigned ≥ 5.

An array of the analyzed data yields the following table, shown in percentages;

Table 3.4: Number of Times Attendees Have Been in Lamu Before

Number of Times in Lamu Before

0 1 2 3 4 ≥ 5

DAY 1 57% 0% 13% 10% 3% 17%

DAY 2 45% 6% 9% 12% 4% 23%

DAY 3 50% 7% 20% 6% 3% 14%

DAY 4 50% 15% 10% 8% 3% 15%

In all the four days of the event, majority of the attendees were first time visitors to Lamu. This is a

proportion that had never been to Lamu before. The rest had been to Lamu a number of times

ranging from 1 to 5, although there are some who pointed out that they had been to Lamu more than

15 times before, hence the “≥ 5” in the table above.

Tallying together the figures of the four days of the event, the following graph is obtained;

37


0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

0 1 2 3 4 ≥ 5

Number of Times Been to Lamu Before

Attendees Level of Familiarity With Lamu

From the graph, it is evident that 49% of the 2015 LCF were first time visitors to Lamu, and as

previously shown, majority were from Kenya. This is to say that 51% of the attendees have been to

Lamu at least once before.

7% of the respondents had been to Lamu once before whereas 12% had been to Lamu two times

before. 9 and 4 percent pointed out that they have been to Lamu 3 and 4 times respectively. Another

18% stated that they have been to Lamu several times before ranging from 5 to 15.

Therefore the ratio of first time visitors and repeat visitors is 1:1

Background Information: Respondents’ Nationalities

In all the questionnaires, we asked the respondents to volunteer information about their nationality,

hometown/county and country as well as their contact information. This was the last set of questions

which aimed to acquire the background information of the respondents. The responses to the

questions proved the following as far as the nationality of the attendees is concerned;

38


Table 3.5: Attendees nationalities

NATIONALITY PERCENTAGE

Kenyan 69.78

Spanish 7.69

Italian 3.85

German 6.32

French 4.67

British 2.47

American 1.10

S. African 1.10

Swedish 0.55

Others 2.00

No Response 4.12

Graphically, this is displayed as follows:

Kenyan 67%

Spanish 7%

Italian 4%

german 6%

French 5%

British 2%

American 1%

S. African 1%

Swedish 1%

Others 2%

No Response 4%

Nationality of Attendees

39


Most of the visitors nationality was Kenyan, as 70% of the respondents said that they were Kenyans.

This was followed by Spanish as a distant second at 8%, Germans third at 6% and French fourth at

5%. Italians, British and Americans polled at 4, 2 and 1 percent respectively.

1% percent of the respondents were South Africans and another 1% Swedish nationals. Other world

nationalities like Indians, Finnish, Greek and Lebanese composed the 2% classified as others.

It is however important to note that the proportion of American and British nationals attendees is

extremely low despite the two nations being Kenya’s long time market for tourism products.

A further break down of the Kenyan nationality block by Home County yields the following;

Table 3.6: Kenyan Attendees by County

COUNTY PERCENTAGE

Mombasa 26.8

Lamu 21.7

Kilifi 16.9

Nairobi 10.2

Tana river 7.1

Kiambu 2.4

Nyeri 1.6

Bungoma 1.2

Garissa 1.2

Kisumu 1.2

Kisii 1.2

Taita Taveta 1.2

Other Counties 7.5

40


It was observed that majority of the attendees of Kenyan nationality were from Mombasa County.

Kenyans who descent from Lamu but stay in other counties accounted for almost 22% of the

attendees of Kenya origin.

Mombasa, Kilifi, Lamu, Tana River and Taita Taveta counties accounted for 74% of the total

attendees of Kenyan nationality. Nairobi County accounted for 10% while Kiambu and Nyeri

counties accounted for 2.4 and 1.6 percent respectively.

An analysis of the nationalities of the figures of counties forming the Jumuiya ya Kaunti za Pwani

(JKP), reveals the following:

Mombasa, Lamu, Kilifi, Tana River, Taita Taveta and Kwale each polled at 36, 29, 23, 10, 2 and 0.4

percent respectively.

Mombasa 36%

Lamu 29%

Kilifi 23%

Tana river 10%

Taita Taveta 2%

Kwale 0.4%

Classification by JKP Counties

41


Categorizing the same Kenyan attendees in terms of regions forming the former (pre-2010) Kenyan

provinces reveals the following;

North Eastern, Eastern and Western regions accounted for the least number of attendees of Kenyan

nationality.

5.1

74.0

2.0 1.2

10.2

3.1 2.8 1.6

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

80.0

CENTRAL COAST EASTERN N. EASTERN NAIROBI NYANZA RIFT VALLEY WESTERN

% o

f A

tte

nd

ee

s

Kenyan Attendees by Region

42


CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Besides Attendees opinion survey, a full economic impact assessment should be conducted on such

events so as to establish the impact to the local economy. Increasing the scope of the survey enables

the full capturing of all vital festival statistics which encompasses ‘hard’ quantifiable data – like, the

number and characteristics of attendees, performers, exhibitors, festival attendance levels, visitor

expenditure, festival revenue and festival employment levels.

Funding for such a survey should be increased and the researchers be engaged early enough before

the event commences. This will ensure better planning and a smooth conduction of the survey.

The number of events and the duration of the festivals should be increased. This can be done directly

by the organizing group or outsourced to other parties. This not only provides more entrainment for

the revelers but also the socio-economic benefits to the Lamu community are enormous. Increased

events and festival duration encourages more visitors to stay and spend for longer periods and in the

process create more income opportunities for businesses and community.

Festival brochures and programs should be given to all passengers at entry points; Mokowe jetty and

Manda Airport. This will provide much needed guidance to the visitors coming for the event and

also generate interest to attend for those arriving in Lamu for other reasons other than the Festival.

Sketch maps should be availed for the use of guests not familiar with Lamu. They will enable self

guided tours and maximum participation in the festival activities by the attendees

Engaging the public transport service companies as partners to give special fares and transport offers

during the period leading to the festival. This will boost the number of attendees and generate more

interest in the event to the public outside the venue town (Lamu).

43


The number of uniformed security agents for the event should be increased. This not only ensures

more security but also increases the ‘illusion’ of security among the visitors.

Sanitation should be improved during the entire festival period, especially in waste management and

public toilets provisions.

The concerned authorities should consider hiring professional event organizers to handle the

increased challenge of handling events logistics and event scheduling.

44


References

INEG (2014). Encuesta Nacional de Consumo Cultural de Mexico 2012. Mexico: Instituto Nacional de

Estadistica y Geografia and Conaculta.

UNESCO – UIS (2015) 2009 UNESCO Framework for Cultural Statistics Handbook No. 3: Montreal,

Canada.

LCPG (2015) The 15th Lamu Cultural Festival Information Paper

lamu cultural festival survey by burac insight

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