Marketing Mix Strategies of Small and Medium Tourism enterprises in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe

Abstract

The study sought to identify the marketing mix strategies of small and medium tourism enterprises (SMTEs), focusing on lodges and hotels of Masvingo Province in Zimbabwe. The continued low business performance by SMTEs in Masvingo Province motivated the study. The marketing mix theory underpinned the study. The ten tourism marketing mix strategies, namely product, price, place, promotion, people, process, physical evidence, programming, packaging, and partnership were the strategy variables of the study. The study employed a quantitative research approach. An online structured questionnaire was used to collect data from all the 250 owners and managers of SMTEs. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26 was used for the analysis of data. The main study findings were that SMTEs in Masvingo Province use all the ten tourism marketing mix strategies, albeit with varying degrees of application. The three most used strategies were product, packaging, and price. The three least used strategies were people, programming, and partnership. The moderately used strategies were physical evidence, promotion, place, and process. The value of this study relates to the use of a ten tourism marketing mix framework by SMTEs. Implications are that study organisations may not reach full performance potential due to unequal use of the ten tourism marketing mix strategy elements.