1.1 Introduction
E-marketing is any marketing done online via websites or other online tools and resources. E-marketing can include paid services while other methods are virtually free. Hospitality marketing is unique because it deals with the tangible product, like a bed in the hotel or food in the restaurant, but it also deals with the intangible aspects of the hospitality and tourism industry. It is about the experience in a trip and social status it brings eating in a fine-dining restaurant. Hospitality marketing is very critical in the success of any hospitality and tourism product, organization and tourist destination. Proper marketing effort promotes a product or service that fills the needs and wants of the consumers and at the same time, bring profits to the organization or country that features it.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of the Study
According to the definition provided by the American Marketing Association (2008), marketing refers to an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. In essence, marketing is a consumer-oriented philosophy or way of doing business; companies that are consumer oriented will put consumers' needs and wants on their top priority. From this perspective, the ultimate goal of marketing is therefore to create and retain profitable customers by satisfying their demands. It is worth noting that the goal of retaining profitable customers is particularly challenging in Asia including Hong Kong. This is because people in this region tend to be more group oriented and the word-of-mouth effects are especially strong.
Hospitality marketing is unique because it deals with the tangible product, like a bed in the hotel or food in the restaurant, but it also deals with the intangible aspects of the hospitality and tourism industry. It is about the experience in a trip and social status it brings eating in a fine-dining restaurant. Hospitality marketing is very critical in the success of any hospitality and tourism product, organization and tourist destination. Proper marketing effort promotes a product or service that fills the needs and wants of the consumers and at the same time, bring profits to the organization or country that features it.
E-marketing is any marketing done online via websites or other online tools and resources. E-Marketing can include paid services while other methods are virtually free. A wide variety of e-Marketing methods are at your disposal, including: direct email, SMS/text messaging, blogs, web pages, banners, videos, images, ads, social media, search engines, and much, much more.
1.3 Statement of the Problem
It has been emphasized that the immense contribution of internet towards the development of the hospitality industry and the country as a whole is enormous and that organizations from all over the world now depend almost on the use of internet (ICT) to manage and market their services. Therefore those who have not as yet adopted ICT in their operations to take a critical look at it.
The contribution of the hospitality industry to the overall growth of the economy of Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. For the hospitality industry to succeed, the need for efficient and responsive hotel subsector which incorporates modern trend of business and customer service cannot be ignored. The efficiency and smart services provided attributable to e-business present a bigger opportunity to firms, industry and the country as a whole necessitating the availability of knowledge through research.
Scepticism about e-marketing has always been a barrier to reaping the benefits inherent in its adoption especially in the developing countries where information and communication technology (ICT) is yet to see its best days. To many businesses, the use of its existing structures, systems and methods help managers and operators remain in their comfort zone without many challenges. E-business however presents a more contrasting option and its adoption brings more benefits and provides global competitiveness for modern business.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to assess the Opportunities and Challenges in Hospitality E-Marketing using Pela Hotel and Suites, Abuja as a case study. In achieving this aim, the specifics objectives were set out as follows:
- To identify the benefits of e-business to the hospitality industry in Nigeria.
- To determine the whether e-marketing bring challenges to customers' of the hospitality and tourism industry.
- To find out whether there is possible ways of correcting the electronic threats
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Are there the benefits of e-business to the hospitality industry in Nigeria?
- Does e-marketing bring challenges to customers' of the hospitality and tourism industry?
- Are there possible ways of correcting the electronic threats?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: There is no significant relationship between E-Marketing and Hospitality Industry
- H1: There is a significant relationship between E-Marketing and Hospitality Industry
1.7 Significance of the Study
The significance of this study can be seen in the fact that the outcome can be applied in the development of national policy framework as a guide for e-marketing (i.e. e-business) adoption.
- The study will improve our understanding of the following issues as they apply in the Nigerian situation.
- It shows the relevance of e-business in hospitality for a developing country like Nigeria.
- It reveals the benefits derived from adopting e-marketing
- It addresses the challenges that prevent firms from taking advantage of e-business.
- It provides the basis of future research into the adoption of e-business in other sectors of the Nigeria economy.
1.8 Scope of the Study
The scope of this research focuses on the Assessment of Opportunities and Challenges in Hospitality E-Marketing using Pela Hotel and Suites, Abuja as a case study. The study will focus on the concept of e-marketing, hotel industry e-marketing as well as benefits of e-marketing and services to customer services.
1.9 Limitation of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this establishment to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Organization of the Study
This research was structured into five chapters. Chapter one is the introduction covering background of the study. Chapter two is the review of related literature while research methodology was presented in chapter three. In the forth chapter, the data collected were presented, analyzed and interpreted. The work is summarized, concluded and recommendations made in chapter five.
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