Insights into the Web presence, online marketing, and the use of social media by tourism operators in Dunedin, New Zealand

Abstract

This research study focused on online marketing and the use of social media by a sample of tourism operators in Dunedin in New Zealand. The aim was to identify the level of online marketing that tourism operators are currently implementing, and to inform improvements in relation to their design and implementation of strategies to enable effective online marketing and use of social media. Data were obtained from tourism operators through face-to-face interviews, online surveys, and an analysis of their online presence. The research study confirmed that, while they have a web presence, there is potential for substantially improved use of online marketing and social media to increase awareness of their products and services online.

The Challenges of Implementing Social Media Marketing in the Tourism Industry: A Systematic Review

“…Emergent themes generated from common patterns in the data corpus are shown in Table 1. The uncertain return on investment (Hays et al, 2013), (Chang, Chou, Wu, & Wu, 2018), (Sabraz & Mubarak, 2015), (Park & Oh, 2012), (Satghare & Sawant, 2018), (Canovi & Pucciarelli, 2019), (Rizk, Rifai, & Jabr, 2018), (Hudson & Thal, 2013), (Todua, 2018) Lack of credibility and reliability as a source of information (Katsoni, 2014), (Sahin & Sengün, 2015), (Latorre-Martinez, Iniguez-Berrozpe, & Plumed-Lasarte, 2014), (Todua, 2018), (Hays et al, 2013), (Chang et al, 2018), (Albăstroiu & Felea, 2014), (Canovi & Pucciarelli, 2019), (Ge, 2019), (Henche, 2018), (Asuncion & Cepeda, 2019), (Khuong & Huong, 2016) Lack of technological knowledge (Howison et al, 2015), (Hays et al, 2013), (Rambe, 2017), (Mhizha, Nyaruwata, Munyanyiwa, & Mandebvu, 2015), (Sabraz & Mubarak, 2015) , (Matikiti et al, 2018), (Rizk et al, 2018), (Oji, Iwu, & Haydam, 2017), (Todua, 2018), (Khuong & Huong, 2016) Issuers around developing social media presence (Howison et al, 2015), (Sabraz & Mubarak, 2015), (Trihas, Perakakis, Venitourakis, Mastorakis, & Kopanakis, 2013), (Satghare & Sawant, 2018),…”

“…Articles with an African research context, specifically those from South Africa, identified this as a challenge more than articles from the South Asian region. SMEs are struggling to understand the value of social media for their business (Howison et al, 2015;Rizk et al, 2018) due to the lack of understanding of social media platforms and their uses related to the tourism industry (Hays et al, 2013;Howison et al, 2015;Rambe, 2017). The relationship between the use of social media marketing and the intention of continuing social media marketing, is moderated by technological knowledge (Matikiti et al, 2018).…”

“…The relationship between the use of social media marketing and the intention of continuing social media marketing, is moderated by technological knowledge (Matikiti et al, 2018). Some SMEs use social media only to maintain a profile, which shows SMEs' lack of understanding when it comes to the use of social media (Howison et al, 2015). Lack of technological knowledge and capacity impedes SMEs' ability to take full advantage of using social media (Matikiti et al, 2018;Mhizha et al, 2015).…”

“…Lack of technological knowledge and capacity impedes SMEs' ability to take full advantage of using social media (Matikiti et al, 2018;Mhizha et al, 2015). In some cases, resistance to using social media was discovered, as it was not considered an effective tool (Howison et al, 2015). This challenge has resulted that SMEs have a lack of confidence and trust in such technologies (Rambe, 2017).…”

“…Despite the significant and continued usage of social media in the tourism industry, Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) still face challenges on how best to use social media for marketing purposes (Howison, Finger, & Hauschka, 2015). This is partly because of the limited studies that shed light on the challenges constraining the implementation of social media for marketing purposes within the tourism industry (John, Larke, & Kilgour, 2018).…”