A Comparative Analysis of East African Destination Marketing Websites

Abstract

Use of website as a source of travel information by potential tourists has become ubiquitous such that its has compelled many tourism organizations to have websites. Tourism researchers have been questioning the value and effectiveness of tourism websites through empirical studies. Among the plethora of such studies, African particularly East African context seem to be ignored. This study focused on evaluating tourism promotion agencies’ websites in East Africa particularly Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda. Mixed methods combining both qualitative and quantitative research approaches were used in evaluating content and design of four tourism agencies in the respective countries. Quantitative data were analyzed using one sample t-tests. All countries promote based on their natural attractions with Uganda capitalizing much more on natural attractions than others. Findings indicated average scores for the websites, albeit, variations within the elements of websites.
Relatively, Kenyan website outshines those for other East African countries. From ANOVA tests, results indicated the four countries to be in different baskets for some website design elements with Kenya and Uganda being in the upper echelons in text as well as picture, respectively. The study sets benchmarks for respective destination marketing organizations in East Africa to elevate their websites. In terms of methodology, the study provides a valid methodological approach that can be used in other contexts apart from tourism.