The Impact of Online Sources on the Destination Image
Abstract
this study examines the relationship between destination images and online and how website can promote the creation of destination image and attract many customers for a long term basis. The study examines how website influences the effect of creating a destination image in the mind of the prospective tourist. A variety of methodologies were employed which are qualitative research design, and content analyses to analyze the data. In this research paper, empirical materials and data have been collected by the researcher through online assessment of the content and themes available on the public official websites and DMOs of Morocco to evaluate the performance of the DMOs and tourism websites in termsof their content and their performance in promoting the image of Morocco as a tourist destination. In this paper, the researcher has used content analysis that is used to analyze qualitative data. With the help of content analysis, the researcher has looked closely into the information content of the two main official Moroccan tourism websites to identify the theme, patterns, ideas, and meaning to serve the objectives of the paper. The finding from this data shows that information is an important tool in creating a destination image.
1.0 Introduction
Tourism has registered a massive growth rate in the recent few years and it is expected that it will grow further with a higher growth rate. The tourism sector is among the fastest-growing sector and hence every country is focusing on improving the tourism sector to attract more tourists to visit the tourist destination (Tan et al., 2017). Tourism does not only support the development of an economy, but it also promotes sustainability within the economy. It makes the economy culturally diverse and the tourists come to know about different cultures and customs and hence they can adopt the best practices of several cultures that can help the country to focus on sustainability. Therefore, it is important to focus on the development of tourism to attract more visitors.
There are several factors that affect the growth and development of the tourism sector, such as geographical location, transportation facilities, the physical environment of the location, the proximity of other tourist destinations, etc. Apart from these factors, the perception and the attitude of tourists and the image of the tourist destination significantly affect the growth of a tourist destination (Camilleri, 2018). Therefore, it is important to manage these factors effectively and efficiently in order to ensure the high growth rate of the tourism sector.
This paper is an attempt to stress the importance and the interrelationship of the concept destination image and online sources and their impact on building and promoting a destination image that can attract a greater number of tourists to the destination. In regard to building a destination image, the impact of Moroccan websites tourism and DMOs will be analyzed and recommendations will be proposed to improve the destination image of the selected destination (Morocco). Thus, the purpose of this paper is to analyses the impact of online sources for building a destination image with respect to Morocco.
1.1.1Tourism in Morocco
The tourism sector of Morocco has been significantly developed. The country has strongly maintained a strong tourist industry. Traditionally Morocco is focusing on the coasts, the cultural heritage, and the history of the country as the most important types of tourism that are competing to get the largest share. Besides these types of tourism, rural, desert and healthcare tourism are recently coming in force. Morocco is a highly politically stable country in North Africa. This is one of the biggest factors that help the country to focus on and develop the tourism sector significantly. Realizing the importance of tourism to economic growth, in 1985 the government of the kingdom of Morocco created a Ministry of Tourism so that the growth rate of the tourism sector can be improved. Tourism is one of the main sources of foreign exchange since 2013 (Dakhama, 2019). Morocco received around 12.3 million tourists in 2018. The number of visitors has further increased in 2019. It shows the attractiveness and the potential of the tourism sector in Morocco. However, there are a lot of opportunities that can be used by Morocco to boost its tourism sector and attract more tourists.
The aim of this paper is to analyse the impact of online sources on the destination image. In this paper, the focus will be on estimating and assessing onlinesources, more precisely the online official sites and DMOs ofMorocco andtheir impact on the official public image creation of Morocco as a tourist destination. Hence, with the help of this paper an effective strategy can be developed to manage tourism websites to create a positive image of a tourist destination that can attract many tourists to the destination. It is important to identify and analyze the advantages of tourism websites for building an ideal image of a tourist destination. Thus, in this paper, the role of online websites platform in building destination image has been discussed.
1.3 Objective
The following are the objectives of this paper. These objectives guide this paper in a definite direction.
- To explore the official Moroccoan websites to see to what extent cognitive and affective dimensions are used for the four different kinds of strategies in tourism websites.
- To study and identiy the positive impact of official websites on the image of a tourist destination with respect to Morocco.
1.5 Hypothesis of the study
HA1: The role of internet mainly official websites and DMOs in building destination image in respect to Morocco has a statistical influence on destination image.
This paper will help the country to improve its destination image using internet as a highly valuable tool and a major asset regarding tourism products to attract more tourists. The research stresses the role and importance of internet mainly official websites and DMOs platform in building a destination image of a tourist destination, promoting their products and making information available for tourists.So, this paper will be of great help for every tourist destination and tourism marketers to learn and understand more the importance of internet and official websites in the development of the tourism industry. With the help of this paper and recommendation presented in this paper, the destination image of a tourist place can be significantly improved.
2.0 Literature Review
This is a very important section of a research paper that helps in supporting the argument made in the paper. In this section, different scholarly articles and journals are reviewed related to the topic of the paper. The main purpose of this section is to critically review the existing or previous paper to gain an insight into the topic of concern (Machi & McEvoy, 2016). It also helps in building knowledge in the respective field. Thus, in this paper, the literature review section has been included to provide background information and to demonstrate familiarity with the concerned topic.
2.2.1 The concept of destination image
Destination image is one of the major factors that are used to promote the destination. The destination image is a compilation of beliefs and impressions that are developed over a period of time based on information processing from different sources (Phillips et al., 2017). . It is probably one of the most important criteria affecting the tourist choice of a particular destination .It consists of commonly two types of images such as affective images as well as cognitive images. Affective image of a tourist destination refers to the feelings or emotions that people generate about a destination whereas cognitive image shows beliefs and knowledge that people have about a destination. Affective image and cognitive image of a destination remind the tourist of a given destination. If any of these images is not good, the tourist will prefer not to visit the destination. Hence, it is important to focus on building both the cognitive and affective image of the destination (PEKTAŞ et al., 2019)in such a way that can alter the perceived image of the tourists and attract them to visit the destination frequently.
Becken et al., 2017 has argued that earlier, the only cognitive image was used to measure the image of a destination but now researchers take both cognitive and affective images into consideration to measure the destination image. Affective image of a destination is measured by the novelty, excitement, as well as vitality of the destination while different aspects are taken into consideration to measure cognitive images such as cultural attraction elements, landscape, attractions, quality of experience, environment, infrastructure and superstructure, sun and sand, social environment, cultural and natural sources, atmosphere, cultural environment, culture, and tradition. So, these are the factors that determine the image of a destination and hence these factors should be improved to create a positive image of the destination to attract more tourists.According to the findings of research conducted on 900 people, the satisfaction level is one of the key factors that affect the intention of tourists to revisit the destination. Another study conducted on 393 tourists found that destination image was effective on the intention to revisit the destination Chaulagain et al., 2019. Apart from these studies, there are several studies dictated that there is a significant impact of the image of a destination on the intention of the tourist to revisit the destination. Some of the researches revealed that it is the perception ofis the perception of the individuals that also plays a significant role in determining the revisiting plan of the people. It means how people perceive a tourist destination determines whether they will visit the destination or not.
2.2.2 Destination and the tourists perceived image
The importance of tourism and tourists image of tourism destination has been stressed in a number of studies. According toLeung et al., 2017the image of the destination significantly affects the number of the visitor visiting the destination. If a destination possesses a positive image in the eyes of the visitors, it will also promote the destination to their friends and family member that will increase the number of visitors to the destination. The positive image of a destination does not only attract the new visitors to visit the destination but also induce those visitors who have already visited the destination to revisit the destination. Therefore, having a positive image of the destination is very important for the growth and development of the tourism sector within the country.The image of a tourist destination has a significant impact on the intention of the tourist to revisit the destination(Shi et al., 2019) because the image of a tourist destination affects the perception and attitude of the tourist. For example, the visiting experience of a visitor to a destination was not pleasant and he/she suffered a lot instead of enjoying the vacation and destination, he/she will create a negative image of the destination in the mind and will never visit the destination again in the future. Apart from this, he/she will share his/her experience with his/her family members, friends, and relative that will demotivate them to visit the destination. Thus, the image of a tourist destination significantly affects the intention of a tourist to revisit the destination.
A satisfied tourist is a retained tourist. It implies that the tourist who is satisfied with the destination and has an excellent visiting experience will definitely commit to visiting the destination again. An individual visits a place in search of pleasure and leisure and if he/she gets what he/she intends or desires will visit again the destination. It can be better understood with an example of Kotler. Kotler says that a customer who is satisfied with a product or service, the customer will repurchase the product or service because the customer knows the value the product or service delivers to him/her. On the other hand, if he/she gets an unexpected experience that is not pleasant, he/she will not visit the destination again in the future. So, it can be concluded that it is the image of a destination that affect the intention of a tourist to revisit the destination.
The tourism sector also plays an important role in ensuring sustainability in the country. Considering its potential to support sustainability, the concept of sustainable tourism has been developed(Asmelash and Kumar, 2019). The concept of sustainable tourism says tourists are motivated to participate in sustainable practices while visiting a destination in order to make a positive impact on the environment, society, as well as the economy. Thus, tourism can significantly promote sustainability in Morocco. It is important for the government of the destination to promote sustainable tourism and people of the destination must participate actively to achieve the goal of sustainable tourism. Sustainable tourism improves and maintains a high level of tourist satisfaction along with providing a meaningful experience to the tourists. A destination that promotes sustainable tourism and focuses on providing a high level of satisfaction and meaningful experience to the tourists significantly creates a positive image in the mind of the tourists who are visiting the destination and it motivates and induces them to revisit the destination. This is supported by ( Espiner et al., 2019)that developing sustainable tourism in the country helps in creating a positive image of the destination that is important to attract a large number of potential visitors to the destination. Sustainable tourism affects the intention of the tourist visiting the destination to revisit the destination. There are several factors that are included in sustainable tourism and ultimately those factors increase the level of satisfaction of the tourists and provide a meaningful experience to them. It includes safe and protected travel from one place to another place, mitigates the negative impact of travel on the environment, mitigates the overall negative impact on the environment, etc. Focusing on sustainability attracts more tourists and hence the destination should focus on sustainable practices to improve the public image of the destination.
The image of a destination is central to the decision making process of tourists constantly attracts the attention of the researchersChuchu et al., 2019). The destination image significantly determines the decision-making process of the tourists. The perception of an individual regarding the values of a tourist destination affects the decision of the tourist to visit and revisit the destination. It has been found that the marginal utility of a destination reduces once a tourist visits the place. It is very hard to think about the same destination to visit as individuals want to explore new places. Here, the positive image of the destination comes into a picture that affects the perception of individuals and attracts them to revisit the destination. Therefore, it is important to focus on building a positive image of the destination.
Based on the values of individuals related to national culture, the significance attributed to the destination as well as its aspects vary significantly(Keni et al., 2019). The research has also found that the nature of the motivation of tourists is heterogeneous. It is also important to note that there are differences in how tourists from different countries attach importance levels to travel motivation. Some of the significant travel motivations are knowledge-seeking, togetherness, escape, satisfaction, and experience. It has found that most of the tourists analyze their previous level of satisfaction and experience while planning for a vacation destination. Having fun and mixing with other tourists are also key determinants of a destination to visit. All these attributes create the image of the destination that affect the intention of tourists to revisit the destination.
Chathurangi et al., 2019stated that there are several factors that affect the image of a tourist destination. The image of a tourist destination is also affected by how a tourist sees the destination. For example, a tourist may be interested in visiting historical monuments and places instead of having fun and hence having fun will not attract that tourist to revisit the destination. Some of the key factors that affect the image of a destination are the beauty of the place, attractive places, level of satisfaction and experience, climate, food, and drinks, feeling of freedom, scenery, good values, etc. These factors also serve as travel motivators and attract them to revisit the destination. These factors have a direct impact on the intention of the tourists to revisit the destination. Moreover it has been argued that that in order to measure the impact of the image of a tourist destination on the intention of tourists to revisit the destination, it is important to analyze the behavior of the tourists(Souiden et al., 2017). The behavior of tourists covers the process of the selection of a destination, visiting as well as assessing the destination along with behavioral intention to revisit the destination in the future. Tourist behavior is significantly affected by the image of the destination. The process of destination selection, level of satisfaction, and post-visit behavior of a tourist are influenced by the destination image. Thus, in order to influence the behavior of tourists, it is necessary to improve the destination image.
Political factors have a significant impact on the destination image and perception of the visitors. When an individual plans to visit a place, he/she considers the political factors of the destination to decide whether to visit the place or not. For example, if there is political unrest at the tourist destination, it will create a negative image of the destination and tourists will move to other destinations rather than visiting the destination in question. Stability in the political system attracts or induces tourists to visit the destination. Similarly, if there is a high rate of corruption and crime at the tourism destination, tourists will prefer to switch to other destinations rather than visiting the destination. The high rate of corruption and crime creates a negative image of a destination that significantly demotivates visitors to visit or revisit the destination. On the other hand, the absence of crime and corruption creates a positive image of the destination and hence visitors prefer to visit the destination (Isaac and Eid, 2019).
2.2.3 Destination image and DMOs online platform.
A Destination Management Organization (DMO) is a strategic leader in destination development whose primary function is to drive and coordinate all the elements that make up a destination (marketing, attractions, amenities, access, and pricing) (UNWTO,2007).the effective and strategic use of information and communication technologies by DMOs has been of great importance in tourism research since the 90s(Buhalis et al, 1993).the internet as a highly valuable tool has changed dramatically the marketing strategies and practices of DMOs.it has contributed a lot to the tourism sectors. They help the potential tourists with information such as the products giving them the chance to compare the prices of the products offered as well as institutions recommended and the kind of businesses. Therefore the Internet is the most important part of ICT since its growing at a higher rate to all areas and improving the communication areas as well. Through the Internet, there is a comparison of information between the following tourist industries; the hospitality, transportation, and the mobile system industry. The mobile systems that facilitate the effective operation and information in the following areas also; in the hotels, airlines, restaurants, weather, traffic conditions, transportation, city guidance, currency conversion as well as translation.
2.2.4 Tourism websites
Website is evolving into an environment that provides for a range of activities, including entertainment, exploration, communication, and learning. A tourism website is defined as a website on the World Wide Web that is dedicated to travel. The site focused on travel reviews, trip fares, or a combination of both (Lončarić et al,2013)
There are important strategies in the websites that facilitates the effectiveness and efficiency of the services offered to the tourist. The first strategy is the value extraction which facilitates the process of self- check-in of the tourists in the hotels or the airport. The second strategy is the capture strategy. It’s a strategy that helps the client to get the required information from their clients hence improving their marketing goals through feedback and rating strategy. The third strategy is the value addition strategy, which involves a combination of services and products to produce more valuable and diverse products for the tourists. The last strategy is the value creation strategy, which involves allowing the tourists to participate in decision making on the definition of the services as well as in planning of the tourism product packaging.Internet as a fast-growing media, and a communication medium has played a significant role in ensuring the development of the tourism industry and has led to the development and the formation of the e-tourism, which has been vital in this sector of tourism.(Morocco World News (2014).
2.2.5 Tourism websites as a destination image building agent
There are several ways through which the image of a destination can be built to affect the perception and motivation of tourists to visit the destination. The destination image built as a result of affirmative or acquiescence marketing strategies(Ketter, 2016). This is the fact that a positive image of a destination leads to success while negative image leads to failure or constraint. A positive image can be changed and there are several factors that can immediately affect the image and make it negative. But it is very hard to change the negative image of a destination. Therefore, extensive focus should be given to the destination image and affirmative marketing strategies should be used to build a strong and positive destination images. Therefore, in order to change the negative image of the destination, destination positioning strategies should be designed in such a way that it can reinforce a positive image of the destination. It is also advisable to create a new image that can hide the negative image of the destination. It can also boost the number of travellers to the targeted destination.
Tourism websites are among the most influencing forces that can build a strong and positive destination image to induce travellers to travel the destination(Leung et al., 2017). Online sources such as online newspapers, television websites, magazines, webpages, forums as well as blogs, peer-reviewed journals, and articles have a tremendous impact on the destination image. It has been found that most of the travellers have their own blogs, and they write about their experience while visiting a particular place. So, anyone who is planning to visit the same destination will be significantly influenced by such blogs. If they find that the destination is worthy to visit, they will visit. It can affect their perception about the tourist destination and create a new image of that destination according to the experience of the visitor who has already visited the place.
According to Rizky et al., 2017 there is a famous quote “you believe what you see.” In marketing as well, it has been observed that people purchase what they see in the market and hence every organization focuses on increasing visibility of their products in the market so that their products can hide the products of the competitors. As the visibility of a product as compared to the competitor’s product increases, the people prefer to purchase that product. Thus, following this principle, the image of the destination can be improved using tourism websites. The presence on the internet should be improved so that whenever a tourist looks for informations they can get enough informations on the internet. The visibility of the destination should be increased so that every potential visitor can see the destination with attractive informations. It will modify their behavior and they must include the destination in their list to visit.
The overall image as well as the affective image of a tourist destination is significantly affected by the online information about the tourist destinationLeung & Dickinger, 2018. When tourists plan to visit a place, they develop an overall image of that place. But when they search for more information about that place through online webpages, they create a different image of that place and hence their plan to visit the destination changes accordingly. Websites informations also affect the cognitive belief of the tourist that further determines the intention to visit the selected tourist destination. Thus, it can be said that they affects the destination image building and should therefore be used to create a positive and influencing image of the tourist destination .Kim et al., 2017 supported the same idea by describing destination image as a tool that helps in positioning and promoting the tourist destination. The marketers can use destination images to position the destination into the mind of the tourists to affect their decision and induce them to visit the destination. There is a very tough competition in the tourism market and hence in order to succeed in the market it is important to differentiate the product (tourist destination) from the competitors’ products. Differentiating a product helps in gaining competitive advantages and competitive advantages helps in attracting more customers. Thus, differentiating the destination image of a tourist destination will help in attracting more visitors. So, strategies should be developed to differentiate the image of the destination. One of the significant strategies is to provide enough and attractive information through tourism websites because most of the visitors search for a tourist destination using the websites. So, having enough presence over the internet will significantly help in differentiating the destination image and affecting the perception of the visitors. Marine-Roig, 2019added thattourism and travel websites are the significant marketingcommunication channel that can be used to communicate with potential visitors. Communication plays a vital role in making a product visible to potential customers. If the organization does not communicate with the potential customers and does not make them aware of the product, the product cannot succeed in the market and competitors will kick the product out of the market. So, marketers should extensively focus on communication and communication channel to make the potential customers aware of the product and influence their buying behavior. The buying behavior of the potential customers can be changed by communicating them again and again about the product describing key features of the product. The website is a good and very effective tool that can be used to communicate with the potential customers. Thus, marketers, stakeholers and tourism organisations can use the internet and various travel websites to communicate about the destination and key features of the destination to change their perception about the destination and convince them to visit the destination.
Similarly(Huete-Alcocer et al., 2019) point out to the fact that most of the tourists go through webpages to get more information about a tourist destination and based on the information they get they formulate their plan to visit the destination. If they find good information about a tourist destination, they decide to visit the destination. Contrary to this, if they do not find information or good information about the destination, they simply drop their plan to visit that destination and think about another destination. Hence, tourism websites influence the perception and impression of the tourists. they can significantly determine their plan to visit a destination. Thus, in order to affect the perception of the tourists, more information should be provided to them through different websites. It will help in increasing the number of visitors to the destination.
Shafiee et al., 2016 emphasized the importance of understanding how visitors get information about a tourist destination in order to promote the destination to reach the maximum number of people. It has been found that tourism websites are used extensively to get information about a tourist destination. Thus, they are major tools that can be used to build the destination image of a tourist destination. There are several studies that have been conducted to study the behavior of tourists during the formulation of a plan to visit a tourist destination. Those studies have found that tourists retrieve information from online sources. Thus, in order to promote a tourist destination, it is important to provide information on various travel websites so that the visitors can get the necessary information. As the visitors get the information they are looking for (positive information about the destination), they decide to visit the destination. Thus, the role of websites in building destination images cannot be underestimated and extensive focus should be shifted to using such online source to motivate and convince the potential visitors to visit the tourist destination.
Based on the above information, it can be concluded that online websites sources can significantly affect the image of the destination in order to motivate and convince the visitors to visit the destination. Online websites and DMOs sources have a significant impact on the perception of the tourist and the perceived image of a destination. By providing relevant and important informations through various online websites, the perception of the visitors as well as the perceived image of the destination both can be changed. The decision-making process of the visitors is also significantly affected by the websites channel because most of the visitors go through different them to get informations about a destination they are planning to visit. When they get attractive informations about the destination such as pleasant weather conditions, historical importance, several sites for fun and sports, rich and mixed culture, etc. they decide to visit the destination. Hence, such informations can be provided through online websites sources to build a positive and strong destination image.
3.0 Research Methodology
Research methodology is a significant part of research paper that helps the researcher to accomplish the paper in an effective manner. Research methodology helps the researcher to collect relevant data, analyze, and interpret them to get the findings or result of the paper. The selection of appropriate research design is very critical for the effectiveness of the research paper (Wiek & Lang, 2016). It ensures reliability and validity of the paper. Considering the nature of the topic of this research paper, thematic and content qualitative research design has been used to accomplish this paper.
3.1 Qualitative Research Design
Qualitative research design is one of the oldest research designs that is widely used by the researchers to conduct a research study. It is used by the researchers to study human behavior, motivation, themes, and opinions. It is widely used by the researcher to gain in-depth knowledge about the topic in hand (Bresler & Stake, 2016). Thus, the researcher has applied a qualitative research design in this paper to gain in-depth knowledge about the concerned topic. Using a content qualititative analysis to explore the online image elements of Morocco
via content analysis of its tourism websites, the researcher can get the answer of the question revolving on how online official websites affect the image of Morocco a tourist destination.
3.2 Data collection
Data collection is also a significant part of research paper because without it a research cannot be completed. In this research paper, empirical materials and data have been collected by the researcher through online assessment of the content and themes available on the public official websites and DMOs of Morocco to evaluate the performance ofthe DMOs and tourism websites in termsof their content and their performance in promoting the image of Morocco as a tourist destination.data is something that determines the reliability and validity of the whole research paper. If the data of the paper is not relevant and cannot serve the objective of the paper, it may leads to unreliable result. Therefore, in order to ensure the reliability and validity of this paper, the researcher has considerably focused on the relevancy of the data.
3.3 Data Analysis and Findings
Data analysis is also a significant part of the research paper because it leads to generate the result of the paper. The researcher needs to be focused while analyzing the data so that error can be avoided and reliable and valid result can be generated (Richards& Hemphill, 2018). In this paper, the researcher has used content analysis that is used to analyze qualitative data. With the help of content analysis, the researcher has looked closely into theinformation content of the two main official Moroccan tourism websites to identify the theme, patterns, ideas, and meaning to serve the objectives of the paper. After analysing the collected data, the researcher has found the following result.
Through the use of content analysis the result of analyzing qualitative data in the research they finds that information is important tool in tourism industry. They analyses the comment of five people in the two tourism websites. The following are the findings;
3.3.1 RESULTS OF RESEARCH FINDINGS
Morocco is one of the countries in the world where the tourism industry is growing at a higher rate. The country’s tourism industry focuses on its coastal culture and its history. Another factor that contributes to the development of the tourism industry is its political stability in the country. There has been a booming increase in tourism in morocco since the government comes up with a program that will meet the tourist’s needs. Some of the features in morocco that attracts most of the people include the beaches, mountains, and the unique cultural heritage that naturally attracts people in Morocco. One of the programs that the government of morocco supports it’s the tourism website that has been one of the contributing factors in increasing the tourists visiting this country. On the website, the information is well detailed about the morocco destination. It wins the customer’s trust to work with morocco and others are highly motivated to visit this area. Therefore the following what the research finds after analyzing the comments of five tourists who visits Morocco.
Many things attract tourists to visit Morocco. Some of the tourists who visit Morocco comments that the destination information provided in the website motivates them to visit Morocco. Morocco provides tourism with information about the different destinations that one can visit. The information that is provided about the destinations is that they ensure they explain about the accessibility of those areas. They provide information about the infrastructures that they will use to reach specific palaces. They may explain the roads that they will use, airports, and even about rails that they may use as a means of transport. They also provide information on whether there are accommodations facilities near every facility that will help the tourist to get a place where they can sleep. Better accommodation places that are easy to access is one of the factors that will attract most tourists to visit morocco since they are sure that their conditions are fully catered. Another information about a destination that should be provided to the tourist is the availability of amenities. They include facilities such as public toilets, hospitals, and even social halls that are supported by the government. This information helps most of the tourists to feel that they are secured even when they visit even with their families in Morocco
The research realizes that information is one of the important tool for the tourism industry to grow. Most of the tourist searches information about the destinations before they decide to start their journey. Some will look for information in websites for them to understand more about the given area. Specifically most of the tourist who have never visited morocco before are motivated by what they get from the online sites and hence their decision is influenced by that information. Most of the information that tourism requires about the destination is about the climatic conditions, healthcare facilities, the culture as well as the political factor of the given area. The following are the comments which most of the tourists provides about how the information influenced their decision to visit morocco.
The first comment is that the tourist is motivated to visit Morocco because the information on the tourism website is updated in time. The tourism industries in morocco ensure that they give information about any changes in the country as well as in the industry. Providing information in time makes the customers convenient about the services that a country is offering to its customers. For instance, the information about climatic conditions is usually updated as climate change. It helps the tourist to plan themselves and make the right decision on when to visit morocco. Well-structured information about the services and goods that a county is offering helps them to win and influence customers to desire to consume their product. Information about the tourism materials require during the time of tourism is updated in time therefore the tourist will know what they are required before they set for the journey. Therefore, before the set for the journey, they will pack all the commodities that are required and also budget for the ones that they will purchase. Good information also helps them to identify which areas specifically they will purchase the materials that they don’t have. Therefore as a tourism industry, they should keep on improving the system of information and ensure that they use a language that will be understood by every individual as well as ensuring that it contains detailed information about Morocco tourism sites.
The second tourist is convinced to visit this destination since the information about the local product and the culture of the people of morocco is provided in the tourism website. Quality information will also provide information about the local products as well as the culture of people in morocco. It’s one of the factors that has influenced most of the people to visit Morocco. When information about the culture and local products helps other people from far countries to be interested and appreciate diversity. Food is one of the elements that can make people feel so comfortable even when they are away from their homes. Tasting and eating the wonderful food of another country makes one enjoy to visit another country. Morocco has been keeping its customers by providing information to them about their cultural food. They have very delicious dishes that their hotels provide to their tourist and when tourists taste this food they have the desire to continue consuming them. One of their dishes is the cuisine which makes many people visit morocco. The information about the Moroccan aroma food that awakens the sense of their amazing flavors and pattern of their food attracts one to visit Morocco.
The culture of Morocco is favorable to most people whether they are a tourist or the citizens in that country. They all accept the diversity amongst themselves and they live in a friendly manner. This contributes to Morocco being at peace, therefore, being a favorable destination for tourists. In morocco the ministry of tourism industry starts a program about culture development to promote tourism in the Medina of Fez. The information about culture is provided in the website because they believes that cultural diversity and historical resources of a country will always influence the decision of the tourist on destination. The tourist comments that they chooses Medina because in this area there are historic and cultural heritage and has a unique architectural heritage, combined with an ancient social etiquette.
In the purpose of sustaining their customers the minister decided to develop tourism in specific Medina by integrating culture products that focuses on preserving, developing, and promoting this destination in Morocco by event policies. They comes up with a cultural tourism development program that follows the lines established by the government that concentrates on the following areas. That is regionalization, decentralization and developing local expertise. This information about the developments that has been done in those sites motivates many people to visit this are. The information shows that the development is untrusted to the Moroccan agency for tourism development whose objective is to develop and support the tourism products as well as developing cultural resources (Steinmetz, 2016). The development program shows that Morocco will be a continuous tourism attraction since they have an aim of coming up with other 31 medians between the year 2016 and 2025. Where the agreement between the stakeholders is signed. When this information is in the website many people will be knowing that Morocco is the best area that one will always desire to visit. The information shows that it’s a reliable destination since the government and the stakeholders have the plans for more development of the area hence people will be visiting to see the new improvement and innovation done in that period thus, being for a long term purposes.
Information is an important tool that promotes the growth of tourism in Morocco. The third tourist is motivated by the information about the historical buildings, museums, monuments, and theme parks in morocco that motivates most of the tourism (Oxford Business Group, 2015). The source of information about these features in morocco is one of the main factors that attract many people. It’s because when people know about the features they are very curious and desires to travel and witness the features in Morocco country. The website provides information about the accessibility of these attractive sites in Morocco. Destination involves a place where tourism they are sure that they will spend their time either in one day or even for a couple of hours. Therefore the historical sites in Morocco will always provide a reason for visiting morocco since the tourists are aware of all the sites that they desire to visit. It’s in the online where some images or pictures of the museums that give the tourist the desire to visit those areas. Most of the people will be desiring to move and confirm whether the images posted represents really what is really in the country. Therefore information is an important tool since if the information about those sites is not posted thus potential tourism will not be aware of them and will not be desiring to visit Morocco(The culture trip, 2020). Hence, consistent information about all the attractive features in Morocco should be updated and therefore, it will maintain many tourists visiting morocco even in future time. These places are attractive for viewing and these are the reason why most of the tourists will be visiting this country. It’s because tourism is to see attractive or unique features that are in a specific place but are not in another country. Therefore, information about those features should be spread to ensure that it reaches all the potential tourists and hence attracting them to visit and see those structures.
This tourist loves the cultural things that he is much happy when he notices that the museums in Morocco still provides cultural things. Online provides information such that morocco museums will have some unique traditions, plentiful artwork and appealing accommodations. Through the provision of online information about the museums the tourist gets to know the following museums which are located in Morocco; the first one is the Mohammad IV museum of modern and contemporary art, Rabat. It’s the first museum to achieve the international museum standards in morocco. Still this museum is one of National foundation Museums in Morocco. It’s a non -profit making organization that aims at promoting the culture of Moroccan heritage. The image of this museum is well presented in the webpage that indicates a well presentation of artwork as well as the Moroccan artists. This gives this tourist a reason of visiting Morocco since he knows the destination he will visit.
Another destination that he learns about is the museum of Moroccan Judaism, Casablanca. The tourist discovers that this is the only museum which is dedicated to the Jewish history and history across the whole of the Arabic speaking world. In this Museum it where one will find the history of Moroccan Jews following their migration from Spain and Portugal to morocco. It explains the influence of Jewish community on Moroccan culture as well explaining how for a long time both Muslims and Jews lives along each other. In this museum they have some of the religious exhibits such as Menorah and scrolls, clothing and jewelry, documents, photographs, tools and a reconstructed synagogue.
Proper direction to a destination is another factor that will attract tourists for the long term the fourth tourist explains. In the website of tourism, Morocco provides people with the maps and directions of various destinations that are in Morocco. Some people are motivated to start their journey if they understand well where they are going and what they will see when they reach in a certain place and the name of the specific destinations that they may be visiting. One of the effective objects that can provide a clear direction to an individual is a map(Jia, 2012). Most of the people prefer researching on their own the whole information of the places they are visiting. Therefore when these websites provide maps it fulfills the need of these people. The map will always give accurate information about the given place and where exactly it’s located. It’s an element that will still show the direction and the routes that one can follow even without necessarily being directed by someone and they will reach their destinations safely. The map represents a space on the earth and therefore because of the competition in the tourism industry, the use of the internet tourism industry has grown very fast specifically morocco. The use of maps helps in creating an image picture in the mind of the tourist that will be quickening their desire to visit those places. The map also will provide the tourist with information about the climate of the given area as well as the vegetarian of that area. Therefore this information will still help the individual to plan about their trip in the given place. Therefore the information on the map is very vital and cannot be separated from tourists.
Information about tourism is an important tool in the tourism industry. Therefore, morocco being the most successful in the tourism sector is because they provide their potential customers with pricing information the fifth tourist comments that. When people get the pricing of the destinations that they are willing to visit they will be motivated to visit them as soon as possible. Most people like budgeting for their finances so that they can ensure that they allocate each activate enough resources(Vasil, 2018). Therefore most of the tourists will visit the online site to find out how different destinations are pricing their products and their unique features in those places. They will determine whether the services provided are worth the cost allocated and what will motivate them to pay for those costs to visit the given location. Therefore, morocco has been informing their customers about their services and about the different destinations which tourists can visit accompanied by their different prices.
He explain the cost of all the places with the explanation as to why the cost is as it’s allocated. It helps most of the tourists to ensure that in their financial plan they allocate enough resources for tourism. With resourceful information, it helps the tourism industry to cause inconveniences to the customers. The provision of this information helps Morocco to maintain its customers for a long time since they understand how much they are required to pay for different destinations. Customers will be willing always to pay any cost as long as they are satisfied with the services they are provided. Therefore, morocco improves its services so that to convince their customers. They start by ensuring that a piece of clear and understandable information is provided to customers at the right time and the correct information.
According to him pricing strategy morocco uses is the best strategy that motivates him to continue visiting this area. Pricing is one of the strategy that most of the customers tries to determine the value of the destination. The pricing strategy should be beneficial to both the producer as well as the consumer. When the pricing information of a destination is provided it helps the customer to determine as well as influence his decision.
4.0 CONCLUSION
In conclusion, information about different destinations is the main tool that can help many countries to be competitive in the tourism industry. Through the use of websites in this industry is a tool that has facilitated the easy passage of information between different individuals in this industry. Some of the information that can be passed to tourists involves information about pricing, about the climatic conditions, cultures, and even about the local food in morocco. Information passed should be attracting and they should use images that will create an imaginative effect in the mind of the prospective tourist. Online official tourism websites has contributed to the success of the tourism industry in Morocco that has also helped them to improve their economy at another level. The research shows that when tourism is well supported by all the stakeholders the industry will grow and the economy of the country will grow. This will on be achieved if the information of the destination is well provided in the website. Technology is an important tool that also facilitates the growth of this industry. Therefore, due to high competition in the industry every destination should ensure they provide the necessary information in their official tourism websites. It should be structured in a way that it will attract many customers. The tourism industry should be an information that will create a destination image in the mind of the prospective customer.
5.0 RECOMMENDATIONS.
Recommendation involves giving of opinion after the finds of the research. This part will be giving some things that can be implemented by the tourism sector through the use of destination image and online to attract many customers to visit Morocco. The recommendation will be in the following sectors;
EFFECTIVE ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGY
Since tourism is a competitive business where every country is trying to be advantageous than the other countries, therefore morocco need to restructure their online marketing strategies so that they can attract as many tourists as possible. This is because in every day technology keep on changing as well as the demand of the people in the market. Hence tourism industry in morocco cannot be satisfied to continue using a strategy that they uses to attract customers for a long time. Market is mostly affected by some factors such as generational changes of the customers(Digital marketing institute 2020). As time goes the generation in the market keep on changing and research shows that what attracts a certain generation group will not attrite another generational group. Therefore new strategies should be implemented in the tourism market.
Therefore for morocco to be competitive in this tourism industry they can implement the following in their digital market. The first step is identifying who is their target market. This involves identifying which area and people they are targeting. They should be specific on the target group since it will help them determine which group their products will satisfy them and will determine whether are they the young couples, families, or even senior travelers. Therefore when they understand the market they are targeting the products they offer in the websites will always fit for that group only. Once the customer gets what they expect and are attracted by the information provided in the website they will be desiring to consume your services. Targeting specific group helps one only to specialize in certain products or services hence being the best in that sector. For instance if the morocco tourism sector is targeting young couple tourists in the market they should ensure that they provide information that best fits this group for example the information about honeymoon. They should ensure that the honeymoon information if provided in the online and this will help in creating a clear picture in the mind of this young wedded people and will desire to be in Morocco for their honeymoon period.
ENSURE THAT THEY UTILIZE ALL THE SOCIAL MEDIA ASPECT
In the travel sectors such as in the Facebook, twitter, and even in Pinterest are the sites that most prospective tourists use to find a destination where they will go during their holiday period. It’s where they get the information about those destinations and the exiting activities that may be happening by that period. The tourism in morocco they should ensure they increase the rate of engagement with their prospective customers through this social media platforms. Most of these people will always be on the social media looking for information thus they should be there to brand their products always to be attractive in the market. The engagement with their customer can be enhanced by starting a discussion in this tourism group, replying to questions that may rise and even commenting in the accounts created. This will help them to win more customers as well as sustaining even the older customer. Through commenting and starting a discussion with the tourist you will understand what they really desires to be implemented or added in this industry. It will make morocco to be the best destination choice for most of the tourist from all over the world.
LEVERAGE VISUAL MEDIA
To remain competitive you should implement new strategies that will be advantageous on your side mostly while using online marketing. For the tourism industry to create an image in the mind of their prospective customers they should use visual media to advertise their products and services. This includes the use of pictures or videos to demonstrate the experience people will have one they visit this destination. When people sees something it’s so easy to create the image in their mind and influence them so easily. For instance in their website they should ensure that they demonstrate the traveling model and indicating the atmosphere and experience people will enjoy while travelling to Morocco. Still they can use instagram where they can even post some photos of the people who ones visited they sites as well as the lifestyle of people in that area. In their website they should also include the pictures of the museums, mountains as well as the historical sites in this area. This will help them to be competitive over their competitors and they will create an image in the mind of people that may influence the traveling decision of most of the tourists.
BRANDING OF THEIR SERVICES AND PRODUCTS
Branding of the product and services is an important factor in marketing. Branding helps the prospective customers in the market to identify and recognize the products and services of the given industry and differentiating them with other products. Branding is the best and simple object that creates an image in the mind of the tourists. It involves the use of the color, symbols and even name of the product that is totally different with that of the others. Branding helps the customer to identify the product even without reading or seeing the product. Therefore, morocco tourism sector should ensure that they brand their products in the best way that will attract the customers. They should use a color that will be attractive and a simple symbol that will be easily recognize by their prospective customers. The websites they create and accounts they have should contain the color and the symbols of their products and services that are unique from their competitors. It’s through this special branding that will help their customers to visit their sites the moment they are using social media. Proper branding will help them to maintain their customers now and even in the future of the industry.
They should also ensure they understand the Key Steps on the Booking of Journey.
In the tourism industry there is no any tourist who wakes up the following day and packs for a journey but rather they follow a certain process. But rather every tourist will first start from having an interest, then research information about a certain area, pricing and later they book for their journey. Therefore, the morocco tourism industry should understand the four step in booking of a journey. The first step involves dreaming. This is the stage while the tourist have the interest to travel but have no specific area to visit or even make a decision. Hence, the industry at this stage they should ensure they take the advantage by advertising their products in a way that will create an image that will keep on customers dreaming while travelling in their area. Later after dreaming now the next step is planning. At this level they have decided on destinations and now it’s only on the date time and the hotel they will go to. They should keep on communicating with their customers so that they many not change their decision but to stick on their decision on visiting the chosen destination. The other step involves booking and at this stage the destination, time and accommodation the client has already decided. And the last step involves experience. At this step the tourist is now on their adventure and are sharing their experiences online. Through this steps when followed very will the industry will grow and through the sharing of their customers it will influence other customers and many will desire experiencing such a moment.
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