Digital marketing and tourism: opportunities for Africa

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore digital marketing and tourism with a focus on opportunities with a case study of Africa, motivated by developments in tourism particularly the increase in tourist arrivals and the growth of digital statistics in the digital era. Design/methodology/approach Literature review as a research methodology was adopted in this study, and the integrative literature review was the method used as well as content analysis to review studies in digital marketing and tourism relating to Africa. Findings This paper reveals that digital media, content and mobile advertising are among the trends in digital marketing and, thus, affords Africa the opportunity to market its attractions to tourists in this digital era. Research limitations/implications Future studies can explore quantitative and qualitative methods to understand the phenomenon of digital marketing in relation to tourism. Practical implications Other countries within Africa to adopt similar digital marketing such as digital media and creative content in order to manage the digitization of marketing activities in the tourism sector. Originality/value This study explores digital marketing and tourism with a focus on opportunities for Africa as a case study by specifically examining social media marketing in relation to tourist arrivals using integrative literature review and content analysis methods.