Abstract
This study assessed the influence of marketing mix elements (7 Ps i.e. Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process, and Physical Evidence) on ecotourism clientele in Jimma Zone, South West Ethiopia. According to the data received from the Jimma Zone Cultural and Tourism office, a total of 23 woredas are under the Jimma zone. From these, the researchers selected six, which are endowed with ecotourism resources. The target population for this study was all Government staff working here and the research was conducted in July 2019. The study adopted a census or total enumeration method because the total population of the study was small. The instrument for the study consists of a structured questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis and descriptive statistics were used as a method for data analysis. The findings of the study revealed that physical evidence made the highest contribution followed by product development, promotion, process, people and place on ecotourism clientele. It implies marketing mix elements enhance ecotourism development, and the key stakeholders should consider the proper implementation of such marketing mix elements for sustainable development and promotion of ecotourism in the Jimma zone.
Highlights
Tourism is increasingly becoming an important economic sector in many developing countries [1]
This study focuses on investigating the influence of the seven components of the marketing mix, as being product development, price, place, promotion, people, physical evidence, and process upon ecotourism clientele in Jimma Zone
Rsquared measures the proportion of the variation in the dependent variable explained by independent variables, irrespective of how well they are correlated to the dependent variable
Summary
Tourism is increasingly becoming an important economic sector in many developing countries [1]. Marketing Mix Elements on Ecotourism Clientele - Jimma Zone, Southwest Ethiopia (Eshete, et al) groups and have been referred to as 4Ps of marketing; product, price, place, and promotion [13]. It cannot be moved from its location while it is still intangible, means that customers cannot hold, touch, taste the product until it is purchased It makes the proper application of marketing mix elements necessary to link the potential ecotourism product with the potential tourism market and to the rest of the world. This study focuses on investigating the influence of the seven components of the marketing mix, as being product development, price, place, promotion, people, physical evidence, and process upon ecotourism clientele in Jimma Zone. This tool includes the regression analysis with the aid of SPSS that tested the effect of the predictor variables on the dependent variables
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