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.

Keywords: website evaluation, East Africa, tourism,
comparative analysis