The influence of business orientations in small tourism businesses on the success of integrated marketing communication

Abstract

Small businesses have been identified as a catalyst for creating jobs and generally growing the economy. One sector that is characterised by the proliferation of small businesses is that of the tourism industry. The key to this sector reaching its full potential is access to markets. Marketing communication can play an important role in attracting and retaining customers and in doing so increase the revenue of small businesses. Small tourism businesses are able to improve the effectiveness of their marketing communication programs by using integrated marketing communication (IMC). The focus of this study is to assess the impact of certain business orientations, present in small tourism businesses, on the successful implementation of IMC. If these business orientations can be identified and their relative influence on IMC is determined, it will allow small tourist businesses to access markets more readily. The results indicate that having a marketing orientation, an entrepreneurial orientation and a pro-active competitor orientation are important to the successful implementation of IMC in small tourism businesses in South Africa.