Annstellah Gakii
Department of Business administration, School of Business, Kenyatta University, Kenya
Samuel Maina
Department of Business administration, School of Business, Kenyatta University, Kenya
Elishiba Murigi
Department of Business administration, School of Business, Kenyatta University, Kenya
COVID-19 is a devastating pandemic with widespread negative health, social, and economic consequences. Due to drastic changes in the business environment of tour and travel agencies, firms and marketing managers can now use search engine optimization to effectively position themselves. The study’s main goal is to evaluate the effect of search engine optimization on the market performance of registered tours and travel agencies in Nairobi County, Kenya. Kenya’s tourism ministry and state government work hard to improve the business climate for tour and travel companies. Despite the overall positive image, international tourist market growth rates in Kenya have been 3.5 percent slower from 2017 to 2019 compared to previous years. This was further aggregated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the year 2020, when the growth rate of tours and travel agencies fell by 65%. The study’s main goal is to evaluate the effect of search engine optimization on the market performance of registered tours and travel agencies in Nairobi County, Kenya. This study adopted a positivist philosophy. Both descriptive and explanatory research designs were used. A self-administered semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 324 registered tours and travels agencies picked from and a sample of 179 were used. Data analysis included the development and interpretation of both descriptive and inferential statistics, such as frequencies, mean, percentages, and standard deviation, and was presented using tables and numerical values. The results of regression analysis established that search engine optimization had a positive and significant effect on market performance of the registered tours and travel agencies picked from a sample of 179. The study recommends that agency management ensure that the firm’s website is easily accessible in order to improve agency performance. Using the internet to gain a large market share can assist tours and travel agencies in improving the performance and income of their websites.
[1] Gakii, A., Kolokonyi, K., Romano, M., 2022. Commercial Banks Responses toward Small and Medium Enterprises Survival in the Context of the COVID-19 in Africa. Journal of Sustainable Business and Economics. 05(03), 12-17.
[2] Kaleka, A., Morgan, N.A., 2017. Which competitive advantage (s)? Competitive advantage-market performance relationships in international markets. Journal of International Marketing. 25(4), 25-49. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1509/jim.16.0058
[3] Yang, Zh.F., Shi, Y., Wang, B., 2015. Search Engine Markeing, Finance Ability and Firm Performance in E-commerce. Procedia Computer Science. 55, 1106-1112.
[4] Kim, J., Tussyadiah, I.P., 2013. Social Networking and Social Support in Tourism Experience: The Moderating Role of Online Self-Presentation Strategies. Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing. 30(1-2), 78-92. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2013.751220
[5] Alizadeh, A., Isa, R.M., 2015. The use of social media in destination marketing: An exploratory study. Tourism. 63(2), 175-192.
[6] KATO, 2019. Kenya Association of Tour Operators – The Driving Force Behind Kenya’s Tourism.
[7] Kitur, T., Kinyua, G., 2020. An Empirical Analysis of the Relationship Between Resource Fluidity and Firm Performance: A Perspective of Tours and Travel Companies in Kenya. International Journal of Innovative Research and Advanced Studies (IJIRAS). 7(11), 13-21. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1201/b15418-7
[8] Eva, K., Ogutu, M., 2017. Strategies Adopted by Tour Firms In Kenya to Deal with Challenges Faced in the Tourism Industry. University of Nairobi.
[9] UNWTO, 2020. UNWTO World Tourism Barometer and Statistical Annex. UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. 18(6). DOI: https://doi.org/10.18111/wtobarometereng.2020.18.1.6
[10] Tourism Research Institute, 2020. Tourism Sector Performance Report 2020.
[11] Salindal, N.A., 2019. Halal certification compliance and its effects on companies’ innovative and market performance. Journal of Islamic Marketing. 10(2), 589-605. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JIMA-04-2018-0080
[12] Bieze, M., 2010. Assessing the Marketing Performance of Online Retailers : A case study Public version. 1-139. https://essay.utwente.nl/60066/1/MSc_Michel_Bieze.pdf.
[13] Wang, H.L.W., 2014. Theories for competitive advantage. A Window into Business Research. pp. 33-43.
[14] Baia, E., Ferreira, J.J., Rodrigues, R., 2020. Value and rareness of resources and capabilities as sources of competitive advantage and superior performance. Knowledge Management Research and Practice. 18(3), 249-262. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14778238.2019.1599308
[15] Kaleka, A., Morgan, N.A., 2017. Which competitive advantage (s)? Competitive advantage-market performance relationships in international markets. Journal of International Marketing. 25(4), 25-49. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1509/jim.16.0058
[16] Efrat, K., Hughes, P., Nemkova, E., et al., 2018. Leveraging of Dynamic export capabilities for competitive advantage and performance consequences: Evidence from China. Journal of Business Research. 84, 114-124. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.11.018
[17] Gakenia, N.J., 2015. Organizational Resources and Performance.
[18] Nabi, G., LiñáN, F., Fayolle, A., et al., 2017. The impact of entrepreneurship education in higher education: A systematic review and research agenda. Academy of Management Learning and Education. 16(2), 277-299. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2015.0026
[19] Jafarzadeh, H., Aurum, A., D’Ambra, J., et al., 2015. A Systematic Review on Search Engine Advertising. Pacific Asia Journal of the Association for Information Systems. 7(3), 1-32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17705/1pais.07301
[20] Clarke, T.B., Jansen, B.J., 2017. Conversion potential: a metric for evaluating search engine advertising performance. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing. 11(2), 142-159. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-07-2016-0073
[21] Barry, C., Charleton, D., 2009. In search of search engine marketing strategy amongst SME’s in Ireland. Communications in Computer and Information Science. 48, 113-124. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-05197-5_8
[22] Salminen, J., 2018. To use branded keywords or not ? Rationale of professional search- engine marketers for brand bidding strategy 1 of Economics.
[23] Joseph, B., 2020. (PDF) Positivism: - Research Philosophy | BINU JOSEPH - Academia.edu (pp. 9). https://www.academia.edu/41700092/Positivism_Research_Philosophy.
[24] Yamane, T., 1967. Statistics: An Introductory Analysis (2nd Edition). Harper and Row.
[25] Mugenda, O., Mugenda, A.G., 2003. Research Methods – Quantitative & Qualitative Approaches. African Centre for Technology Studies, Nairobi, Kenya.
[26] Mutuku, M., Muathe, S., James, R., 2019. Mediating Effect of Competitive Advantage on the Relationship Between E-commerce Capability and Performance: Empirical Evidence from Commercial Banks in Kenya. European Journal of Business and Management. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7176/ejbm/11-17-06
Copyright © 2022 Annstellah Gakii, Samuel Maina, Elishiba Murigi
This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
