Efficacy of Destination Promotion Strategies on Domestic Tourism Performance in Mombasa County, Kenya
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Date
2023
Authors
Mwawaza, Stella Mshai
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Domestic tourism is critical as it helps cushion the tourism sector against uneven demand resulting from international tourism. The variation of international tourism is as a result of an increase in major security incidents, especially terrorism, global economic instability, seasonality, and global epidemics such as COVID-19. Such fluctuations affect the Gross Domestic Product and nature of employment. Domestic tourism often plays a role in sustaining services and jobs when there is reduced international tourism. The Government of Kenya and private stakeholders have put in place measures to ensure local residence engage in tourism. The goal of this research was to determine the efficacy of destination promotion strategies on domestic tourism performance in Mombasa County. Specific objectives were: to establish the influence of travel motivation on domestic tourism performance; analyse the contribution of the tourism products on domestic tourism performance; evaluate the marketing best practices adopted and their influence on domestic tourism performance; explore the contribution of stakeholder engagement on domestic tourism performance and finally establish the moderating influence of destination image on the relationship between destination promotion strategies and domestic tourism performance in Mombasa County. The sampled population consisted of 444 respondents drawn from domestic tourists in Mombasa County, Tourism Regulatory Authority (TRA) registered Kenya Association of Tour Operators (KATO) members, selected government bodies and relevant tourists Associations in Mombasa County. The research used cross sectional descriptive research design where data was collected using questionnaires, interview schedule and focus group discussions. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse quantitative data with levels significance and confidence levels established at p≤ 0.05, (95%) and qualitative data was themed and categorized. The overall response rate was 84.13%, which was deemed suitable for the research. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used to analyse the data. The findings indicated significant influences on the variables as follows; travel motivation to domestic performance p=0.000≤0.05; Tourism product on domestic tourism performance p=0.000≤0.05; marketing best practice and domestic tourism performance p=0.000≤0.05; and stakeholder engagement which was significant at p= 0.000≤0.05. Further, the results indicated that travel motivation, tourism product and marketing best practices explained 60.5% of the variations in domestic tourism performance while stakeholder engagement on the other hand accounted for 31.9% of the variation in domestic tourism performance. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to test moderation hypothesis. The results indicated that cognitive image is a moderator variable between tourism motivation; tourism product; marketing best practice and domestic tourism performance, while affective image was only a moderator between tourist motivation and domestic tourism performance. This study concluded that destination promotion strategies affect domestic tourism performance. The study recommends another study on other factors that affect domestic tourism performance as destination promotion strategies explained only 60.5% of the variations in domestic tourism performance.
Description
A Research Thesis Submitted in Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Tourism Management in the School of Business, Economics and Tourism of Kenyatta University June 2023
Keywords
Efficacy, Destination Promotion Strategies, Domestic Tourism Performance, Mombasa County, Kenya