Travel motivations: a comparative assessment of Zimbabwe’s major international source markets.

Extant literature on travel motivations, especially from a comparative perspective, has largely been constructed in the context of European and American destinations. Little has been documented on destinations elsewhere. The study therefore sought to investigate and compare the motivations of international tourists to Zimbabwe from the United States, the United Kingdom and South Africa. Using the quantitative approach, data were collected from 267 respondents and analysed both at item level and factor level. Exploratory Factor Analysis of the 19 motivation variables yielded five factors: ‘novelty and knowledge enhancement’, ‘escape’ and ‘nature experience’ emerged as the major motivation factors, while egoism and social interaction were least important. The study revealed that tourist motivations vary between nations. ‘Novelty and knowledge enhancement’ was an overarching motivation across the three nations. However, this factor scored higher for tourists from the USA compared to South Africa and the UK. Tourists from the UK placed a higher value on the ‘Nature experience’ and ‘escape’ motivations. South African tourists had no distinct motivations, although at item level ‘to rest and relax’ featured among the country’s top five motivations. Likewise, some sociodemographic and trip characteristics varied between nations. It is recommended that Zimbabwe should take cognisance of the key motivations, including inimitable attributes of tourists from different source markets, and develop customised products and marketing messages. Furthermore, network marketing, taking advantage of the high numbers of repeat visits, can be used to circumvent image related challenges bedevilling the country

Travel motivations of domestic tourists: The case of Zimbabwe.

The quantity of research on domestic tourism for destinations in Africa is significantly lower than that on international tourism. The paper sought to investigate the motivations of domestic tourists in Zimbabwe with a view to gain greater insights on the needs of the domestic market. Five motivation factors were identified using a survey method. Data was analysed by means of descriptive statistics and Exploratory Factor Analysis. Novelty, nature seeking and escape and relaxation emerged as the major motivation factors which stimulate domestic tourists to engage in tourism, while prestige and socialisation were the least motivation factors. Identification of the motivations is useful in the design and production of tailormade tourism products and services which can effectively meet the needs of tourists thereby creating optimal satisfaction levels. The priority given to the novelty motivation by domestic tourists partially implies that most Zimbabweans are alienated from their own tourist attractions. There is a need to develop strategies to encourage more local people to participate in tourism. Product development and marketing messages should place more emphasis on novelty, nature seeking needs including opportunities for escape and relaxation to induce more domestic demand for tourism goods and services among Zimbabweans

Determining the impact of green management policies on hotel performance: A manager’s perspective.

This paper examines the possibility of a link between green management policies and hotel performance in two Sub-Saharan developing countries from the manager’s perspective. The impact of green management policies on hotel performance has raised ongoing debates in which no conclusive positions have been arrived at. Green management policies, regulations, and goals in hotels are to some extent formulated in response to genuine environmental concerns of stakeholders who include (internal stakeholders) customers, employees, shareholders, owners, suppliers, and (external stakeholders) academics, government agencies and competitors (Weng et al., 2015:4997). The research design used to carry out this study was a multiple case study based on its appropriateness to assist the researcher to determine the impact of green managemnt policies on the performance of hotels. This study was carried out on the assumption that managers in hotels have an understanding of the views of the stakeholders as they exert pressure on the hotel to formulate policies to become green. Qualitative research was employed in order to gain a rich understanding of the impact of green management policies on hotel performance. Interviews were carried out on three star hotels. Content analysis was performed to process the data which were displayed in tables accompanied with some descriptive narrative. The interviews revealed that in most hotels green management policies are unavailable, suggesting that there is a lack of awareness, yet green initiatives are being implemented in the hotels, mainly to save resources and for cost reduction. The study revealed that only a few managers in the hotels that were studied have formulated green management policies. Some of the performance factors that emerged from the study include cost reduction, employee edification, and business competitiveness. This study determined the impact of green management policies on hotel performance from the perspective of the manager in the countries that were studied. The study made a distinct contribution to the literature by identifying the perceptions of hotel managers with regard to the implementation of green management policies