A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF THE ECONOMICS, COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS, SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES, ARBAMINCH UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OF ARTS IN ECONOMICS AUGUSTE,

Abstract

This study is aimed to investigate the tourism and its contribution to house hold income in Konso zone. Specifically, the study examined the factor affecting tourism income of households in study area and assessed share of tourism to household’s income in study area. The Two- stage sampling techniques was used to select 192 households from sampled kebeles. Both primary and secondary data were collected for this study. Questionnaires, interview, and focused group discussion were employed to obtain primary data. The household data were analyzed using both descriptive and econometric methods of analysis. Tobit regression model was used to determine the major socio-demographic and economic factors influencing tourism income in the study area. The study revealed that the contribution of tourism is low to household income, only 3.87 percent. Estimation result of tobit model revealed age of household head, family size of the household and access to credit were found to have strong positive effect on tourism income of household, while land size is negatively correlated with tourism income of household. Finally, promotion, expanding employment opportunity, improving infrastructure, access to formal credit were recommended to improve tourism income.