| dc.description.abstract | The impact of the new technology is far reaching and its invention has
revolutionalised the way companies are marketing their products and the tourism
industry is no exception. This study was done with the objective of determining
the extent to which use of internet marketing is being practiced in the tourism
industry in Kenya and to establish the benefits and the problems experienced in
using the internet as marketing tool. To this end, primary data was collected by
means of survey questionnaire using both closed and open-ended questions and
were given to the managers of Tour Operators in Nairobi who are in charge of
marketing tourism. The response rate was 70% (42/60). The data was
analyzed using descriptive statistics.
Analysis of the data revealed that all the firms were using the internet to market
themselves especially because majority of the firms did not have offices abroad
and were hence using foreign agents and the internet to market their products.
The extent to which the internet is being used in marketing is to a moderate
extent, though some of the marketing activities are done to a very large extent
and a few others to no extenf at all. The study revealed that internet is to a
moderate extent used as a marketing information systems tool and as a target
marketing tool. In the marketing mix, the internet is used to a large extent in that
all firms communicate their products in a number of ways such as, product
demonstrations using short previews on their websites and allowing tourists to
select a tour package of their choice. Prices are also displayed and negotiations
can be done online. However, advertising is only done to a small extent and the
only promotional tool used to a large extent is the display of offers and discounts.
The results also showed that all the tourist firms enjoy the benefits of internet as
a marketing tool and only experience a few problems such as lack of government
support and the inefficiencies of the internet service providers | en |
