| dc.description.abstract | Ecotourism supports environmental conservation as well as generating economic opportunities. It additionally emphasizes benefits to the local community and suggests that the involvement of the residents is important for the effective management of tourism. Bondo Sub-County is endowed with vast ecotourism resources yet the residents lavish in poverty. The objectives of the study were: To investigate the relationship between youths' environmental knowledge and ecotourism attitude in Bonda Sub¬Countyt; To examine the relationship between youth's ecotourism attitude and landscape likeability in Bonda Sub-County; To examine the relationship between landscape likeability and participation intention; To propose structural relationships between , environmental knowledge and ecotourism attitude; ecotourism attitude and landscape likeability; and• landscape likeability and participation intention and; To recommend an appropriate strategy for community capacity building for promotion of ecotourism in Bondo district and its environs. The study was based on Transactive Planning approach by John Friedmann. This approach is grounded on Social learning theory that emphasizes social learning and participation in planning. This study used students enrolled in Form Three at 16 co-educational day secondary schools in Bondo Sub-County. Random sampling technique was used to derive representative sample from the target youth population. Structural equation modeling using AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structures) was used to develop structural models for the relationships and to test hypotheses that; Environmental knowledge (EK) positively influences youths' attitude towards ecotourism (EA), Youths' attitude towards ecotourism positively influence their landscape likeability (LL), Landscape likeability positively influence participation intention. A strategy for community capacity building was proposed based on the relationship between environmental knowledge and ecotourism attitude (.70); ecotourism attitude and landscape likeability (.70); and landscape likeability and participation intention (.84). Analysis indicated that residents' environmental knowledge strongly influence attitudes towards ecotourism, which in tum determine the intention to participate in ecotourism through their individual landscape• affinity. Residents' involvement in ecotourism may be stimulated through: appropriate management strategies aimed at increasing their environmental knowledge; encouraging positive ecotourism attitudes, and environmental planning that promotes residents' affinity for local attractions. | en_US |