1 Makau Victor, 2Mutungi Mary, and 3Kiria Sisinio
Globally; meeting, incentive travels, conferences and exhibition (MICE) tourism is the fastest growing yet highly competitive tourism sub-sector estimated worth US billion dollars yearly according to World Hospitality Group, 2017. Fundeanu, 2015 and Benner, 2017 have noted that MICE facilities can stir competitiveness along their value chain by intensifying clustering activities among stakeholders and governments. The objective of this study was to establish the mediation effect of government intervention on cluster-based critical success factors (CSFs) of conference facilities and TDC in Nairobi City County (NCC), Kenya. The research philosophy was pragmatist that applied descriptive survey design. Data obtained using questionnaires and interview guides was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Study findings indicated that government had a strong mediation effect on CSFs of conference facilities and TDC. About 59 percent of MICE facilities are located in Westlands and Upper-Hill areas of NCC. Almost all MICE tourism facilities complied with government regulations with 54 percent of the facilities being foreign brands. Only six percent conference facilities were small and medium tourism enterprises (SMTEs). There was low government financing coupled with high taxes and lack of clustering policies to regulate MICE tourism clustering. The study concluded that government intervention is one way of practically enhancing conference facilities and TDC of cities and regions. The study recommended that national and county governments in NCC should strengthen local SMTEs to compete with foreign bands through financing and enacting relevant Acts to enable formation of strong alliances and wide resource base. The operationalization of a Visitors Convention Bureau (CVB) was further recommended
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