Tourism Marketing & Economic Sustainability of Tourist Destinations: Perspectives of Bale Mountains National Park

Abstract

The economic sustainability of tourist destinations is crucial for the long-term success and growth of the tourism sector. In this regard, tourism marketing plays a great role in fostering economic growth and ensuring long-term resilience. The study focused on national parks in an effort to determine how tourism marketing affects the economic sustainability of the parks. Mixed research, in line with explanatory and descriptive research designs, was applied to achieve the aim of the study. A sample of 143 was collected from employees of the national park and small and medium-sized enterprises working in the park using the census sampling technique. The study revealed that tourism marketing has a significant impact on the economic sustainability of the national park, with price, place, and promotion having a high correlation with the economic sustainability of the tourism destination, while product has a moderate relationship. Furthermore, the regression result shows that independent variables have a significant impact on the economic sustainability of the study area. This implies that tourism marketing could act as an enabler for the economic sustainability and well-being of tourist destinations.