SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION MARKETING STRATEGY AND VISIBILITY OF TOUR AND TRAVEL COMPANIES BRANDS IN GLOBAL MARKETS: A CASE OF TOUR AND TRAVEL BRANDS IN ARUSHA REGION, TANZANIA

Abstract

The tourism industry is a key driver of economic growth for many countries, including Tanzania. However, in the competitive landscape of global tourism, Tanzanian tour and travel brands face significant challenges in achieving adequate market visibility due to inability to harness the online and offline marketing strategies and this has led to stagnation of tourism arrivals in Tanzania as compared to other African and Asian destinations. Therefore, the main objective of the study is to investigate the effect of online and offline search engine optimization marketing strategy on tours and travel companies’ brand market visibility. The target population encompassed twenty-four (24) tour and travel enterprises located in the Arusha Region, specifically those possessing active websites and engaging in Search Engine Marketing. The research employed an explanatory research design to explain the relationship between search engine optimization marketing strategies and the brand visibility of tour and travel companies. Descriptive statistics mean and frequency distributions were used to establish the Characteristics of the variables under examination and inferential statistics were used to establish the relationship between search engine optimization marketing strategy and brand visibility. The study established that on-page search engine optimization marketing strategy (Mean score of 4.0266 and SD of 1.0756); off-page search engine optimization marketing strategy (mean of 4.3663, SD of 0.9892; B = 0.540, Beta=.597; P < 0.001) affect visibility of tour and travel companies’ brands in global markets. The study recommends that tours and travel companies invest in enhancing on-page and off- page Search Engine Marketing, to increase their exposure on search engine results pages’ to enable their customers to access their brand information and increase brand visibility in the market.