ROLE OF FOREST DIVERSIFICATION IN PROMOTING TOURISM.A CRITICAL LITERATURE REVIEW

Purpose: Global Tourism destinations provide different products which satisfy tourists with different interests, needs and wants. The general objective of the study was to establish the role of forest diversification in promoting tourism Methodology: The paper used a desk study review methodology where relevant empirical literature was reviewed to identify main themes and to extract knowledge gaps. Findings: The study concludes that forest tourism products were positively and significantly influenced the tourism sustainability (r=0.258, p=0.001). This meant that a unitary increase in the forest tourism products leads to an increase in tourism sustainability by 0.258 units. Majority of the tourists’ and destination operators agreed that cultural tourism experienced influenced tourism sustainability. Some of the cultural tourism practices experienced were visiting historical sites, tasting local food and drinks, listening to local music, witnessing local dancing, viewing local artifacts, visiting sacred sites, witnessing local basket making, sighting traditional homes, attending local cultural shows/events and local religious events and home staying in rural villages Recommendations: The study recommends that forest tourism stakeholders should devise plans and ways of countering the challenges that face the forest tourism diversification These challenges included; inadequate relevant information about the forest tourism product; inadequate facilities in the forests such as rest centers, walking trails; poor quality services; unethical guiding practices such as request for tips, use of vulgar language; hostile residents; inadequate signage; unfavorable prices of forest activities; insecurity; unhealthy environment; poor communication facilities and inadequacy in tourism product diversity. These can be mitigated by building sustainable transport and communication infrastructure, encouraging community participation of the tourist resources, training tour guides, encouraging community visits to the sites and creating awareness on the importance to preserve tourist sites. The study suggested that cultural tourism practices in the indigenous forests in counties should be fully profiled and funds for its full establishment be allocated