ASSESSMENT OF TOURISM PROMOTIONAL PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES IN ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the tourism promotional practices and challenges in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A cross-sectional explanatory design will be used. The target population in this study was 590 total targeted employees from various organizations stratified by hotels, the Addis Ababa Tourism Office, park administrations, and museums in Addis Ababa. By using the Sample Size Yamane (1967) formula, 238 employees were identified as the sample size, and 191 fully and completely completed questionnaires were returned (achieving an 80 percent response rate). Accordingly, this study used probability and non-probability sampling techniques. Both primary and secondary data were used in this study. Primary data was mainly collected using semistructured questionnaires and an interview guide. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the properties of the mass data. According to this study, the top four practices in the tourism promotional mix are advertisement, personal selling, sales promotion, and public relations, in that order. It helped build and maintain tourists’ relationships effectively. Thus, this study concluded that the city has good promotional practices and a good promotional strategy that can be viewed along with creating and improving relations with visitors. However, poor marketing promotion infrastructures and management, a lack of budget, and skilled manpower were identified as challenges to the tourism promotional mix. In the light of the aforesaid results and concussions, the researcher suggests launching extensive and exclusive promotional campaigns through social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and electronic websites.