Of particular interest are the needs of learners pursuing the Tour Guide course bearing in mind that tourism is one of the biggest income generating sectors of
the Kenyan economy. Tourism related jobs have become popular among young people and thus it is of great importance to equip them with the necessary skills
and duties. Leung 1994 found out that students‟ involvement in syllabus negotiation based on the experience in the industry Hotel management helps
in the design of a need-based course. He also gave suggestions as to what has to be learnt to cope with the vocational needs for tourism management that
could inform both the immediate learning environment and subsequent course planning activities. This clearly indicates that a study on ESP needs analysis
was long overdue in our country.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
For Kenyan tourism industry to realize its fullest potential in attracting and providing high quality service to tourists, it must have a well trained and highly
qualified work force in terms of communicative competence. Yet, to achieve this goal, full alignment must be in place in terms of taking into consideration
needs as articulated by all stakeholders in the design of an ESP syllabus. Studies on ESP needs analysis as indicated in the background have not been
done sufficiently on tourism related courses and yet tourism is one of the backbones of the Kenyan economy. This lack of empirical studies on needs
analysis has compromised the quality of ESP course offered in tertiary level colleges. This is detrimental in a country where there is continued poor
performance in the English subject in secondary school. For instance, in the
year 2011 KCSE results, English recorded a drop in its mean from 38.90 in 2010 to 36.42 in 2011. This in itself is an indicator that these learners may not
be proficient in language skills hence the need for needs analysis to establish the areas that they may need training on. Any attempt to intuit the learners‟
needs may be misleading and the course may turn out to be a replica of what
they already know.
On the other hand, the objectives of the ESP course to the students are clearly outlined but they are nevertheless not achieved due to the virtual non-existence
of needs analysis. It is worth noting that Tour Guide students should be offered an ESP course that equips them with a certain English proficiency level to
enable them communicate in the target situation. Teachers should not decide how and what students need to learn relying on their past experiences since this
leads to a mismatch between the objectives set out by the teachers and the level of the students when they finish their studies. This problem originates from the
lack of specification and analysis of the students‟ needs. Needs analysis is a means to an end in designing a course and cannot be ignored. This can be done
if the needs analysis takes into account of stakeholders affected by the course in question. In the present study, the researcher sought perceptions of three
groups students, teachers and tour guide firms‟ managers and this contrary to other studies that base their study on only one group.
1.3 Research Questions
