Enhancing Rural Livelihoods through Agro-Tourism in Maasai Mara Villages: A Tanzanian Case Study

Agro-tourism has emerged as a promising strategy for enhancing rural livelihoods in Maasai Mara villages of Tanzania. A mixed-method approach combining qualitative interviews with quantitative surveys was employed to gather data from the participants in Maasai Mara villages. Participants reported an average increase of 20% in household income due to agro-tourism activities, indicating a positive impact on their livelihoods. Agro-tourism appears to be a viable strategy for rural development, although further research is needed to validate these findings and explore its scalability. Government policies should support the establishment of more agro-tourism enterprises in Maasai Mara villages to facilitate wider economic benefits. agro-tourism, rural livelihoods, Maasai Mara, Tanzania Model estimation used $\hat{\theta}=argmin_{\theta}\sum_i\ell(y_i,f_\theta(x_i))+\lambda\lVert\theta\rVert_2^2$, with performance evaluated using out-of-sample error.