Digital marketing adoption by National Tourism Organisations (NTOs): A Zimbabwean perspective

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue XII, December 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Digital marketing adoption by National Tourism Organisations (NTOs): A Zimbabwean perspective

Caroliny Makacha^1*, Munodawafa Njovo^2
1Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure Sciences, Midlands State University, Zimbabwe
²Department of Marketing, Catholic University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
*Corresponding author

Abstract

The importance of adopting digital marketing in this era of rapid globalisation can’t be overlooked. According to several authors (e.g Bennett and Buhalis, 2003; Buhalis & Law, 2008) the internet is perceived as a powerful and effective marketing tool in tourism. It is consistently accepted as a valuable tool for distributing information and communication, and maintaining a corporate website is vital for the maintenance of relationships established between companies, by strengthening relationships with the public, and especially with customers, thus capturing a larger market segment. It goes without saying that digital marketing technologies have dramatically changed the way tourists and travellers communicate with each other, exchange views about their holidays, interact with the tourist industry in general as they organize their trips (pre-trip), or comment on services offered at hotels, restaurants (on-trip or post-trip) among others. The research sought to establish the digital marketing strategies adopted by Zimbabwe Tourism Authority; to establish the benefits of implementing digital marketing and the challenges faced thereof. In-depth, semi structured interviews were administered to 10 personnel from the NTOs marketing division. The data was thematically analysed. The results show that though ZTA has embraced the use of digital marketing through tools like websites, email marketing, social media marketing, it still faces an array of challenges that include limited financial resources to fully implement the concept.
Key words : Digital marketing, National tourism organisations, Zimbabwe, Social media marketing, Websites

1. INTRODUCTION

Digital marketing is the most rapidly growing form of marketing in today’s globalised world (Chamboko-Mpotaringa & Tichaawa, 2021). National Tourism Organisations (NTOs) which are referred to as Destination Marketing Organisations / Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) by some authors ( e.g Morrison 2013; Gretzel, 2015) have a crucial role to play when it comes to promoting destinations and their countries at large. According to Morrison (2013) most destinations rely on DMOs to design and implement marketing strategies to overcome inefficiencies and fragmentation in the tourism and hospitality industry. Gretzel (2015) asserts that adoption of ICTs in many ways makes the lives of these organisations better and easier as they open up marketing opportunities. However it is important to note that ,most DMOs are still in experimental stages of utilizing digital tools like social media for their marketing (Usalki et al, 2017). This proves correct in African countries in general and Zimbabwe in particular. For example, according to Abdullah et al (2021) the top five countries in Africa in terms of Facebook subscription are Egypt, Angola, Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa.in addition, COMEC (2015) asserts that most African countries are affected by government policies when it comes to implementation of digital marketing. Digital marketing tools have changed the way in which potential guests disseminate and how tourism suppliers create information in the tourism industry (Hays et al, 2013). Digital marketing has become one of the key focus areas for tourism businesses and destinations all over the world (Chamboko-Mpotaringa & Tichaawa, 2021). This means for marketers in NTOs, the traditional means of marketing are no longer sustainable in this globalised world.
Though the concept of digital marketing has been well embraced in the developed world, developing countries are still lagging behind. It is therefore against this background that the researchers sought to do this research so as to give the perspective of a developing country like Zimbabwe.
This research therefore has been done at Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) which is the government regulatory board for Zimbabwe’s tourism and hospitality industry. The objectives of the research are as follows:
i. To establish the Digital Marketing strategies which are being employed by Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA).
ii. To identify the benefits of implementing digital marketing by ZTA
iii. To determine the challenges faced by the NTO in its endeavours to digitally market destination Zimbabwe.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Overview of Digital Marketing in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry
Nowadays tourists mostly use online search for travelling purposes therefore travel sites position in search engines has become more important (Gretzel, 2015). Tourism is a kind of e-business in which it presents a transaction of products or services in the form of information. The evolution of internet technology has made the tourism industry information concentric, in which visitors pay for the provided information and service.
Many authors have posed different opinions on the meaning of digital marketing. Accordingly, Chaffey and Smith (2008) refer to it as e- marketing which entails getting closer to customers and understanding them better, adding value to products, widening distribution channels and boosting sales through digital media channels such as search marketing, online advertising and affiliate marketing. The authors further stipulate that it includes the usage of websites to facilitate customer sales and after sales service. It is a way of thinking and putting the customer at the heart of all online services. On the same note, Buhalis and Law (2008) gave an understanding of e-marketing as moving elements of marketing strategies and activities to a computerised, networked environment such as the internet. It also involves the process of building and maintaining customer relationships through online activities to facilitate the exchange of ideas, products and services that satisfy the goals of the consumer and service provider. However, Kotler et al (2008) proposed that digital marketing is a social and management process where different groups and individuals get what they need and want, creating, offering and exchanging products with value for others.

Digital marketing has made remarkable changes in the tourism industry and has opened new channels for selling products. Tour operators and travel agencies have also engaged in digital marketing enhancing competition in the industry. Most studies carried out on digital marketing have mainly focussed on social media marketing which is the commonly used digital marketing tool which is defined by Kaplan (2015) as a group of internet based applications that build on the ideological foundation of Web 2.0. The author also adds that it allows the creation and exchange of “user generated content.” Prior to that Chaffey and Smith (2008) asserted that majority of web users state that they use search engine to find information about a hotel. If the hotel is not registered with the search engine, it would find it difficult to find a prospective guest unless the guest knew the hotel’s web address. However this idea was made before the popularisation of social media which saw most hotels joining social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to market their products.
Digital marketing strategies have also been employed by the airline industry as put forward by Nuran and Melten (2019). The authors articulate that digital marketing tools are being used by the customer at the stages of booking, boarding process, flight process, baggage delivery, and even transfer services upon of arrival. These digital marketing tools have also enabled the collection of vital customer information like preferences, travel habits and behaviours. This data is in turn enable the airline to create and manage relationships with their customers through customer relationship management. Furthermore according to Eurostat (2016) digital marketing through the internet is a very crucial communication canal for the tourism sector, since 4 out of 10 Europeans search for travel related information. The study also postulates that about 65% of Europeans, who used the internet in 2015, made purchases online, and 52% of these purchases were products and services related to tourism. Therefore digital marketing plays an important role in the tourism sector because consumers first research on the destination and visit company websites before they make a choice to visit the destination.

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