Determining the key success factors for marketing of tourism establishment in Lesotho.

Abstract

Given that the competition in the tourism industry has intensified worldwide, there is a need for more effective tourism marketing. Tourism marketing lies in designing the marketing strategies and communications appropriate for target markets so that profits can be generated. Through tourism marketing, tourism establishments could also attract more tourists, anticipate and satisfy the existing and potential tourists’ needs and wants. This study therefore, determines the key success factors (KSFs) for marketing of tourism establishments in Lesotho. KSFs are factors that allow tourism establishments to compete effectively and to attract more tourists. The primary objective of this study was to determine the KSFs for marketing of tourism establishments in Lesotho. To achieve the primary objective of this study, two secondary objectives were identified in Chapter1 and achieved in the subsequent chapters. The first objective was to analyse the KSFs for marketing of tourism establishments in by means of an in-depth literature review. This objective was achieved in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3. Chapter 2 provided an overview of marketing and the following were discussed: marketing in tourism, characteristics of service marketing in tourism, specific features in services, importance of marketing, description of marketing as a process and a marketing strategy, market as well as the marketing mix. In Chapter 3, various KSFs for marketing tourism establishments were discussed. The second objective was to assess empirically the KSFs for marketing tourism establishments in Lesotho. This objective was met in Chapter 5 by means of descriptive statistics, which included biographic information of the respondents in this study. In addition, exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine the marketing-related aspects implemented by tourism establishments in Lesotho and to identify the KSFs for marketing tourism establishments in Lesotho. Last but not least this objective was also achieved by making recommendations based on the KSFs for marketing. A quantitative approach was employed for this study. The sampling consisted of two phases: During the first phase, convenience sampling, a non-probability sampling method, were used to identify the regions in Lesotho that formed part of this study and the following regions were selected to be part of the study, namely Maseru, Leribe, Berea and Mafeteng. During the second phase of the sampling, all tourism establishments in the specified regions that appeared on a list provided by the Lesotho Tourism Development Corporation (LTDC) were selected to be part of the study.137 questionnaires were distributed and completed by either the managers or marketers of the establishment between June and July 2017. The questionnaire included sections about biographic profile of tourism establishments in Lesotho that participated in this study, implementation of KSFs, importance of KSFs, questions about establishments’ marketing information and comments or suggestions of the respondents from the following sectors: airline, travel trade, attraction and accommodation. Data were captured and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20.0 (SPSS). The data analysis for this study was done in two phases. Phase 1 included descriptive statistics and Phase 2 consisted of the exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation were used to summarise data on the KSFs for marketing of tourism establishments in Lesotho. The factor analysis for this study was run with Oblim with Kaiser Normalisation as a rotation method and the principal component analysis as an extraction method for better interpretation of results. The eigenvalues criterion was also used to determine the number of principal components based on the assumption that only eigenvalues greater than 1. The data were tested using the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin 0.801(KMO) measure of sampling adequacy and the Bartlett test of sphericity. From the results a total of ten KSFs for marketing of tourism establishments in Lesotho were identified. These include the following: conduct thorough marketing planning, enhance the attractiveness of the tourism establishment, effectively advertise the establishment, ensure the accessibility of the tourism establishment, and perform strategic marketing management to improve tourist satisfaction, conduct marketing research, manage service quality, effectively communicate with staff and tourists, promote the tourism establishment through different marketing mediums and achieve tourist loyalty. All ten factors accounted for 71% of the total variance. It was recommended that the tourism establishments in Lesotho implement these KSFs in order to successfully address the needs and requirements of their target markets. In addition results revealed the KSFs that are implemented by tourism establishments in Lesotho namely: conduct thorough marketing planning, enhance customer relationship through effective communication, advertise the establishment, manage customer satisfaction, manage customer loyalty and monitor business environments. All six factors accounted for 53% of variance. It was also recommended that this research be repeated annually, as the findings would assist tourism managers or marketers of tourism establishments in Lesotho with the KSFs for marketing to better market their tourism products both nationally and globally. This study is of value not only for clear understanding of the KSFs for marketing of tourism establishments but also for improving the profitability and overall success of tourism establishments.