Influence of E-Tourism Policies on Travel Business Profitability in Nairobi City County, Kenya
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53819/81018102t2111Abstract
The new information era has grown drastically overtime with key stakeholders giving considerable attention to adoption of e-commerce. Travel and Tourism businesses have increasingly adopted e-commerce, which has helped to link key market participants thus enabling easy gathering of information for both consumers and suppliers. E-commerce has brought about a revolutionary change in the way Travel and Tourism business is being conducted away from brick-and-mortar operations. This has changed the way consumers make decisions on personalized travel packages using websites to obtain roadmaps, accommodation, activity programming, air fares, restaurants, entertainment and calendars of local events. This study explored to establish the influence of e-tourism policies on travel business profitability in Nairobi City County, Kenya. This study adopted descriptive research design, which employed mixed method of collecting quantitative and qualitative primary data. The study was conducted in Nairobi City, Kenya’s capital due to its robust economy. The study targeted 172 travel agents that use e-tourism in their travel businesses. The study also targeted travel agent professionals whose docket is marketing, ICT and management of travel businesses. Slovin’s formula was used to calculate the sample size of 120 travel agents. Simple random sampling using the list of registered travel agents under the Kenya Association of Travel Agents as the sample frame was used to select the travel agents to be enrolled in the study. Purposive sampling was employed to select three (3) managers from each sampled travel agent giving a total of 360 managers. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data primary data from the sampled managers. A pre-test of the questionnaires was carried out involving travel agents that were not sampled for the main study to determine its reliability. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, modes, means, variances and standard deviations was used to analyse quantitative data using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22. Hypothesis testing using Chi Square test analysis revealed that the significance value 0.484 is greater than 0.05, and hence the null hypothesis is accepted and alternative hypothesis is rejected. This implies that measures e-tourism policies do not influence travel business profitability. The study concluded though e-tourism policies do not influence travel business profitability is critical in the development of e-tourism in Kenya.
Keywords: E-commerce, e-tourism, Travel and Tourism business, Tourism Policy, & Profitability
References
Bethapudi, A. (2013). The role of ICT in Tourism Industry. Journal of Applied Economics and Business, 1(4), 67-79.
Bourke, J., Kirby, A., & Doran, J. (2016). Survey & Questionnaire Design: Collecting Primary Data to Answer Research Questions. Quebec, Canada: NuBooks.
Christie, I., Fernandes, E., Messerli, H., & Twini-Ward, L. (2014). Tourism in Africa: Harnessing Tourism for Growth and Improved Livelihoods. Washington DC: World Bank. https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0190-7
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (5th ed.). London: SAGE Publications.
Elhaj, M. R., & Barakeh, M. z. (2015). The Impact of E-commerce on Travel Agencies Profitability in Respect of Size: Evidence from the U.S. Advances in Economics and Business, 3(10), 436-446. https://doi.org/10.13189/aeb.2015.031003
Farkhondehzadeh, A., Karim, M. R., Roshanfekr, M., Azizi, J., & Hatami, F. L. (2013). E-Tourism: The role of ICT in tourism industry. European Online Journal of Natural and Social Sciences, 2(3), 566-573.
GoK. (2018) Tourism Contribution to Poverty Alleviation in Kenya: A Dynamic Computable General Equilibrium Analysis. Volume 57 Issue 4. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287517700317
GoK. (2020). Kenya airways annual report and financial statement. Government of Kenya. Government of Kenya. (1990). Economic survey. Central Bureau of Statistics. Available from Home - Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Nairobi, Kenya (knbs.or.ke)
Jonathan, C. J., & Tarigan, R. E. (2016). The Effects of E-Tourism to the Development of Tourism Sector in Indonesia. Communication & Information Technology Journal, 10(2), 59–62. https://doi.org/10.21512/commit.v10i2.1669
Jucan, C. N., & Jucan, M. S. (2013). Travel and tourism as a driver of economic recovery. Procedia Economics and Finance. 6, 81-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2212-5671(13)00117-2
KATA. (2018, November 30). www.katakenya.org. Retrieved May 27, 2020, from Kenya’s Tourism Sector Growth a Boost to the Economy : http://www.katakenya.org/news/444.
Kimeria, C. (2019). Africa’s tourism industry is now the second fastest growing in the world. Retrieved May 26, 2020, from www.qz.com: https://qz.com/africa/1717902/africas-tourism-industry-is-second-fastest-growing-in-world/.
Kiprutto, N., Kigio, W., & Riungu, G. K. (2011). Evidence on the adoption of e-tourism technologies in Nairobi. Global Journal of Business Research, 5(3), 55-66
Kothari, C. R. (2013). Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques. New Delhi: New Age International.
Newby, P. (2010). Research methods for education. London: Pearson education limited.
Nyasuguta, F. (2019). Kenya ranked third largest tourism economy in Sub-Saharan Africa. Retrieved May 28, 2020, from www.the-star.co.ke: https://www.the-star.co.ke/business/kenya/2019-04-16-kenya-ranked-third-largest-tourism-economy-in-sub-saharan-africa/.
Quian, S. (2010). Research on Behaviors of Government's Tourism Marketing. UTMS Journal of Economics, 1(1), 99-106.
Rahayu, R., & Day, J. (2015). Determinant Factors of E-commerce Adoption by SMEs in Developing Country: Evidence from Indonesia. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 195, 142–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.06.423
Schneider Gary (2016). Electronic commerce 12th edition. Califonia State University, Monterey Bay. Cengage Learning.
Sekaran, U., & Bougie, R. (2016). Business Research Methods: A Skill-building Approach. Chichester, England: John Wiley& Sons Ltd.
Sharma, M., & Hazarika, D. D. (2017). Tourism Marketing in India: A Case Study. Pacific Business Review International, 10(5), 83-91.
TRI. (2021) The State of Tourism and Community Development Research and Future Directions. Tourism Review International, Vol 25, No. 2-3, pp 79-88 (10)
UK. (2019). Briefing Paper: Tourism, Statistics and Policy in Britain. London: House of Commons Library.
UNWTO. (2020). Growth of International Tourist Arrivals to Outpace Economy. World Tourism Barometer, 18(1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.18111/wtobarometereng.2020.18.1.6
Veal, A. J., & Darcy, S. (2014). Research Methods in Sport Studies and Sport Management: A Practical Guide. London: Routledge.
WTTC. (2019). Travel & Tourism Global Economic Impact & Trends 2019. Wor. London: World Travel & Tourism Council’s.
Zwass, V. (2003). Electronic commerce and organizational innovation: Aspects and opportunities. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 7(3), 7-37.
