Assessment of strategies to enhance the online presence of the Mozambican government website on tourism destination marketing

Matusse, Sheila Stela; Xi, Xi; Joaquim, Isaque Manteiga Article Assessment of strategies to enhance the online presence of the Mozambican government website on tourism destination marketing International Trade, Politics and Development (ITPD) Provided in Cooperation with: Department of International Commerce, Finance, and Investment, Kyung Hee University Suggested Citation: Matusse, Sheila Stela; Xi, Xi; Joaquim, Isaque Manteiga (2023) : Assessment of strategies to enhance the online presence of the Mozambican government website on tourism destination marketing, International Trade, Politics and Development (ITPD), ISSN 2632-122X, Emerald, Leeds, Vol. 7, Iss. 1, pp. 16-35, https://doi.org/10.1108/ITPD-07-2022-0012 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/319576 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Assessment of strategies to enhance the online presence of the Mozambican government website on tourism destination marketing Sheila Stela Matusse Faculty of Tourism, Harbin University of Commerce, Harbin, China Xi Xi Harbin University of Commerce, Harbin, China, and Isaque Manteiga Joaquim School of Economics, Shandong University, Jinan, China and FACECO, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Mozambique Abstract Purpose –The purpose of the present paper was to explore the best practices of destination management in promoting tourist destinations through the Mozambique government website (INATUR) and identify strategies that enhance its visibility and online presence. This was only possible by (1) exploring if people are aware of the government website’s existence; (2) examining the existence of indicators of the engagement behaviors for the web-users (visitors) in their searching process on the government website; (3) exploring if the engagement behavior and website features have influence on the government website visitors’satisfaction and (4) providing measures to enhance the popularity of the government website at INATUR. Design/methodology/approach –The study combined a qualitative and quantitative methodological approach from the primary data collected via an online questionnaire survey of 269 random respondents, and the selected data was analyzed and processed using Stata 13 with the descriptive statistic and ANOVA [Analysis of Variance (an econometric model)] technique. The data was collected from secondary sources and from the interview, a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis was applied with an interpretive approach. Findings –The government website presents the minimum of relevant information to respond to the users’ needs and expectations. There is little knowledge regarding the existence of the government website for tourism destination marketing. Few respondents were surprised about this website’s existence. The optimistic side of responses came from those peple who used the website and it helped their expectation. The correlation analysis showed a significant positive relationship between the government website features and the visitors’searching satisfaction; the interview outputs noted that the shortage of staff at INATUR with knowledge of digital marketing engagement plays a role in solving the problem of the visibility and online presence of the website. Research limitations/implications –One of the apparent limitations of this research was the world pandemic situation (Covid-19), which influenced to make abrupt arrangements in conducting the questionnaire survey and interview compared to the planned schedule. The interview was supposed to be a field research to have direct contact with her respondents and collect nonverbal information through the respondents’body language, but unfortunately, it was not possible. Improvising was one of the solutions and had to design an online questionnaire survey for national and international tourist respondents and an emailed interview with INATUR director. Because of that, the results showed a very significant gap between African nationals and ITPD 7,1 16 © Sheila Stela Matusse, Xi Xi and Isaque Manteiga Joaquim. Published in International Trade, Politics and Development. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (forboth commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at http:// creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode The authors express their sincere gratitude to the School of International Commerce, Finance and Investment, College of Politics and Economics of Kyung Hee University for funding all the costs associated with the publishing of the article in the open access journal. The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/2586-3932.htm Received 19 July 2022 Revised 24 October 2022 Accepted 25 October 2022 International Trade, Politics and Development Vol. 7 No. 1, 2023 pp. 16-35 Emerald Publishing Limited e-ISSN: 2632-122X p-ISSN: 2586-3932 DOI 10.1108/ITPD-07-2022-0012 international respondents in number of 264 and 5, respectively (about in 98,14%) caused by the lockdown and traveling limitation. Practical implications –The adoption of the contents in “Recommendations for policy and decisionmaking”can help in synergizing an integrative marketing communication strategy that enables all actors to maximize local economic benefits without spending many financial resources, and support sustainability, different tourist destination suppliers, authorities and local communities’development. Ensuring effective and efficient communication, and above all, enhancing the provision of reliable information. Reinforce the importance of the practical teaching and learning of digital platforms in tourism schools and universities; offer a thematic tool to serve as an analytical basis in future studies, encouraging continuous scientific research on the subject under study. Social implications –Raising the awareness of the government website among touristconsumers; promoting Mozambique as a reference destination and its tourist diversity through the use of the government website; capitalizing tourists’enterprises for communities’development; improving the competitiveness of destinations through greater exposure of tourism products and services on the government website boosts the economic gains for the development of the tourism sector in the country. Accessibility to the information channel of Mozambican tourist destinations via the government website, and stimulating the desire to visit; improve and enrich the visitor’s experience quality on the government website in the tourist information consultation. Originality/value –It is the first research in the country about tourism destination marketing using indicators like customers’behavioral engagement levels based on social interactions such as likes, shares and comments on the government website, as well as its awareness and performance aspects, to analyze if the INATUR government website is being successful on its tourism destination marketer role. The research was also done to bring solutions to the current trends of the Covid-19 pandemic that has affected and disrupted the tourism industry. Keywords Tourism, Strategies, Online presence, Marketing, Government website, INATUR Paper type Research paper 1. Introduction 1.1 Background of the study Since 1955, the trends in the tourism sector have been enhanced by the advancement in Information Communication Technology (ICT), the search for leisure and the growth of income (purchasing power) which are still considered important factors of changes and opportunities in this industry. The challenges faced in terms of market demand from the side of tourist organizations, comprising the competition among the destinations for tourists, have also grown. In search of competitive advantages, the marketing tool such as Internet has been started to be used. Therefore, it is important to make sure that the online information for the tourism industry (services and products) are virtually present, available, complete and updated (Costa et al., 2004). The World Tourism Organization (WTO) (2001,2004,2005) assumed that tourism and technology (Internet) walk together in providing different information. This allows tourists to make reservations in a fast and easier way, because the information presented online is a precious instrument to attract and retain potential tourists (Mendonça, 2002). In the same way, Zhang et al. (2015), defend that tourism websites are a fundamental source to consult about a traveling plan. The information displayed on the official tourism website can create informative content, not only for the promotional purpose of the touristic destination but also in guiding the potential tourists to the reality and decision-making influence. This may help in expanding the levels on consumption of touristic products, services consumption, and tourists flow. In order to boost, improve and market the tourism environment in Mozambique, the government is in a progressive implementation of a strategic tourism development plan since 2012 and is now in its second phase until 2025 (PEDTM II) [1]. This plan has several government efforts to create facilities that enable the growth of tourism in quality of infrastructures, tourism knowledge, human resources, adequate institutional framework, security and financial resources. These efforts comprise three main processes: (a) integrated development planning, (b) improvement of products and services and (c) improvement of marketing and sales (GovMoz, 2013b). Tourism destination marketing in Mozambique 17 A survey of the governing body of Tourism in Mozambique INATUR (2012) acknowledged that the presence of online marketing in Mozambique and the strategy was in its embryonic stage and required an optimal improvement of online, social media and marketing activities’presence. Emphasizing that, since 2010, from the total budget of INATUR (USD 4.2 million), only 19% was used for promotional activities or marketing, and it did not include the online world (GovMoz, 2013a). It is important to point that due to these institutional challenges, the tourism sector in Mozambique has been contributing with small shares to the economy. For example, in 2017, the tourism sector including its broader effects of supply chain investment and induced income contributed to GDP with about 75.2 billion metical (8.8%) and in 2018 accounted with 80 billion metical (9%). There is an optimistic trend in tourism, as the WTO (1999) and World Travel and Tourism Council forecasted an annual increase of 4.9% to reach 125.5 billion metical by 2028. The factors like open visa policy and natural resources, including safari parks, pristine islands and beaches are mentioned as boosters of tourism sector (WTO, 1999). These facts called our attention because Mozambique is located in Southern Africa, a country with enormous diversity and richness of culture, gastronomy and natural resources which constitute the main tourism attractions. This is the reason why the present study will emphasize the significance of the third key indicator of the PETDM II, 2016–2025 which focuses on strategies for improving marketing and sales. Added to that, the study will benchmark the regional successes and accepted practices from the WTO and different scholars’writings. This will help the development of strategies and the current action plans with great visibility of the government website on the Internet; improve its performance in the virtual world; attract more visitors and have a competitive advantage at international level. This is about “Making your name appear”, meaning that the government’s online presence has to be known by people and among Internet users (GovMoz, 2013b). 1.2 The objectives and significance of the study The main purpose of the study is to explore DMOs’(Destination marketing organizations) [2] best practices to promote tourist destinations through the government website (INATUR) and strategies that enhance its online visibility. This can be done by (1) exploring the people’s awareness about the existence of the government website; (2) understanding the visitors’ behaviors as indicators in their searching; (3) exploring if the website features influence the visitors’satisfaction and(4) providing measures to enhance the visibility of the INATUR website. The study’s significance relies on helping the INATUR with best practices and suggestions for an efficient integrated online marketing strategy and encouraging the cooperation with different digital platforms to attract more visitors and potential investors. The INATUR will benefit from this study’s contribution to be used as sustainable measures to review and adjust its current website performance, by improving and developing its online marketing activities on the web page, and consequently its online active presence among the Internet users. Most of all, this study would be beneficial for the entire stakeholders’network in the tourism sector. 2. Literature review 2.1 Destination marketing on tourism Pike (2004) describes tourism destination marketing as a management process through which the tourist enterprises identify a selected group of actual and potential tourists, and communicate with them to ascertain and influence their wishes, needs and motivations, in order to formulate and adapt their tourist products accordingly in achieving the optimal tourist satisfaction thereby fulfilling their business objectives. Destination marketing is an integral part of developing and retaining a particular location’s popularity, and preserving the attributes that are attracted to the tourism ITPD 7,1 18 destination (Kotler et al., 2006). Once objectives are identified, the marketing mix (4Ps) is created to promote it. According to Adeyinka-Ojo et al. (2014), the tourism destinations’marketing activities are conducted by DMO which plays a crucial role in promoting the development of destinations and better position in highly competitive tourism markets. The DMO also plays a role in enhancing local economic gains, opportunity to live and work for people in their community (WTO, 2004). The DMOs as the major players in the promotion of the tourism destinations can have crucial roles such as (1) industry coordination, (2) monitoring service and quality standards and (3) enhancing community relations (Paraskevas et al., 2011). Giving emphasis on the aforementioned, Ritchie and Crouch (2013) and Buhalis (2000) said that the DMOs’ structures can vary from a government department, a joint public/private agency and private organizations. This is to say that for its successful marketing strategy, the DMOs work with different stakeholders from government bodies, tourist and hospitality firms, residents, NGOs and other institutions, with the aim to coordinate them for best practices in the tourism environment. From the same perspective, in 2015, the government of Mozambique approved the country’s tourism guidelines (PEDTM-II), whereby the INATUR (governing body of tourism) is responsible for the implementation of marketing strategies and plans of activities, with the focus of establishing the local organizations, for a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) on tourism development priorities (GovMoz, 2013b). The country’s DMO structure of tourism in the private sector is represented and coordinated by the Confederation of Economic Associations and other agencies (d’Angella, 2007). This cooperative synergy can promote and maintain a successful government website, by providing a complete informative platform (videos, images and photos) from different tourism products and service providers, which facilitates the visitors’searching, as well as influencing decision-making for the destinations (UN World Tourism Organization, 2005). Actually, the literature recognized that images held by visitors influence positively the choice of destinations and also stimulate brand identity and positioning (Morrison, 2018;Zach et al., 2010;Govers and Go, 2003). In general, the success of any type of marketing communication instrument or channel requires some strategies adoption and a measurement to evaluate the success of its use and to further improve and develop its utility benefits. Some scholars measure the success in and from a more comprehensive business perspective (Hays et al., 2013;Kumar and Mirchandani, 2012) emphasizing the need to be aligned with business strategies and with efforts that bring dividends in form of return on investment. Besides measuring success based on engagement has become an important indicator for DMOs’online efforts (Zeng, 2013;Lang, 2022), and some researchers go on saying that there are three dimensions of engagement –affective, cognitive and behavioral (Dessart et al., 2015). In the meantime, the Internet monitoring tools measure engagement levels based on different social interactions such as likes, shares and comments (; Hoffman and Fodor, 2010; Kaske et al.,2011;Peters et al., 2013) which correspond to the CEB approach (Gummerus et al.,2012). In fact, the DMOs need to understand how their marketing efforts are taking effect on their target or potential customers and visitors (Leung et al., 2013). Also, features like measuring the success of marketing channels and activities have been identified as the biggest challenge (Phocuswright Yearbook, 2014), because DMOs are using standardized metrics for evaluation of websites without taking into account the varying structure and funding models of DMOs (Pike and Page, 2014). After castigating the destination marketing from the above literature background, we will be able to provide recommendations that enhance the popularity vis- a-vis the visibility of the INATUR website, and visitors’satisfaction which requires a vision on tourism promotion from the government. Tourism destination marketing in Mozambique 19 2.2 The need for government tourism promotion In a highly fragmented industry like the tourism sector, where issues have different ministerial responsibilities, government intervention is needed to develop a vision, to establish measurable goals and to bring together the main stakeholders toward a sustainable future (OECD, 2010). The government must actively participate in the tourism sector for the following reasons: (1) providing financial support for marketing initiatives; (2) advance the country in global competitions; (3) national interest in guaranteeing benefits to society and (4) improving the country’s image (OECD, 2013). Almeida-Santos et al. (2014) also added that the main objective of government interventions in the tourism industry is to maintain and increase the competitiveness and sustainability of the sector. Therefore, the Mozambican government recognizes its role in promoting the country’s tourism industry. Here, we have the INATUR’s marketing responsibility financed by public funds in cooperation with the private sector, and other tourist companies. In terms of sustainability, the government has encouraged green tourism initiatives and practices, by removing trade barriers to environmental goods and services related to climate change, and environmental conservation to ensure a sustainable future for the sector (GovMoz, 2013a). 2.3 Strategies to enhance online traffic to the website The online traffic represents the first step to turn a website into a lead. Thus, stimulating traffic on a website platform is a daily routine of any institution that wants to survive in the current globalized era of digital marketing (WTO, 2009). Nowadays, public, private and NGOs are working hard to make more people use their websites. The more people know about the business, the more changes the organizations have in engaging with lead or potential customers. However, for organizations to drive traffic into their website, they can implement free or paid strategies (Walle, 1996), and because there are plenty of them, the present research will focus on destinations’marketing and DMOs. The literature review has wide and constructive effects in conceptualizing the tourism destinations marketing and DMOs, helping us to know their role and functions. It can also help to understand which strategies can be applied to enhance the traffic on the website use (pay-per-click advertising, search engine optimization, content marketing and social media marketing). Furthermore, the importance of encouraging and restoring the idea of branding, image and positioning, as comprehensive view on government responsibilities in creating sustainable development of tourism destinations, balancing environmental, economic and sociocultural factors. Researchers have different evaluation criteria for the success of website traffic in tourism destinations marketing. Some adopt the content quality of tourism websites –features and information that a website offers (Law et al., 2010) and behavioral engagement –provided by users’feedback such as likes, shares and comments (Buhalis and Mamalakis, 2015). Some scholars cover the financial dimensions, internal business processes, customers, learning and growth (WTO, 2005), while others focus on web page design, marketing information and technical aspects. It makes harder the process of choosing a suitable model because different researchers are using different criteria. However, the common sense found in the website evaluation criteria is accuracy, authority, objectivity, coverage and the use of the website information (Kaplan and Norton, 1996). From the literature review, the indicators like customers’behavioral engagement levels based on social interactions such as likes, shares and comments on the government website, including its awareness and performance aspects, can be used to analyze if the INATUR government website is being successful on its virtual tourism destination marketer role (the online presence). ITPD 7,1 20 2.4 Sustainable development of tourism destination The term “sustainable development”was employed first in a report to the Club of Rome entitled “The limit of growth”. The report declared that a goal can be sustainable development based on prudent management of available resources and environmental capacities, and the rehabilitation of the environment previously subjected to degradation. This concept meant that sustainability meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of the next generations to meet their goals (WCED, 1987;Esparon et al., 2015). For the UNWTO (2013), sustainable tourism is an enterprise that achieves a balance between the environmental, economic and sociocultural aspects of tourism development to guarantee long-term benefits to local communities. The study from Nevares and Hayman (2012),WTO (1999),McIntyre et al. (1993),McKercher (2013) and Bowers (2016) addressed some pillars that make a sustainable tourism development: (1) Optimized use of environmental resources, ecosystems and biological diversity maintenance, and precaution on building tourism environments without damage; (2) Respect for sociocultural authenticity, conserve built and living cultural heritage, and contribute to cross-cultural understanding and tolerance and (3) Ensure long-term social and economic benefits, fairly distributed to community stakeholders, including decent and stable employment and income-earning opportunities, social services and poverty alleviation. The local government has responsibilities to address a sustainable development approach within tourism destinations (Beaumont and Dredge, 2010) by establishing and implementing policies for this sector or industry. This approach must also provide an environment that enables and encourages the private sector, local community, tourists and other stakeholders to respond to sustainability, including natural resources management. 3. Research methodology 3.1 Research design This study involved mixed methods: qualitative and quantitative approaches. The qualitative approach was used to collect information about the role of DMO in promotional activities of tourism destinations from the website page. The research analyzed books, journals, magazines, reports, publications, textbooks, peer-reviewed journal articles and Internet sources discussing these subjects (Baggio and Klobas, 2011;Veal, 2011). The quantitative method started gathering the primary data with a semi-structured questionnaire survey to explore the visitors’search on government website. It also checked the existence of behavioral factors on website engagement, and explore if this Customer Engagement Behavior (CEB) [3] and website features influenced the users’satisfaction. The online questionnaire survey was shared through the link on social media platforms. The outcome of the data was processed and analyzed through Stata 13, where the answers from the respondents were inputs using a numerical coding technique. Then, a descriptive statistics analysis was made applying the Pearson correlation and ANOVA [Analysis of Variance (an econometric model)] model to come up with findings and conclusions. 3.2 Research ethics considerations The research was focused on the general tourists and the INATUR staff. So ethical consideration was of major importance to protect the researcher and respondents from any harm that can occur concerned with moral principles, values and actions regarding honesty, integrity, transparency, obligations to other responsibilities, and trust (Traianou, 2014). The research has been conducted with ethical consideration, to guarantee the study of high standard integrity and respect for various participants involved in the research process. The participants were informed well on the objectives and purpose of the study, so they participated voluntarily and could choose to withdraw at any point in the questionnaire and Tourism destination marketing in Mozambique 21 interview. The privacy and confidentiality of every participant were respected and also permission from the institution to interview the staff was asked and an e-mail request with a credential letter. 4. Research results and analysis 4.1 Respondents’profile The study targets a population of tourists who voluntarily and freely answered the online questionnaire. After the online survey was randomly answered, the results gave us a sample size comprising 269 respondents whose characteristics are described in Table 1. Table 1 shows that the majority of the tourists or respondents are degree holders and most of them are males from African continent. The gap between Africans (mostly national) and international tourists is visible and probably caused by the huge fall in international tourism demand amid world travel restrictions, and lockdown measures, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the latest issue of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer (2020), Africa registered a 69% decrease in international tourist arrivals from January to October 2020. Besides, the online questionnaire survey was drawn to be both online and face-to-face (physical presence), but by that time to find an international tourist in Mozambique was somehow challenging. The few international tourists who accepted to answer our questionnaire were recommended by friends. Moreover, the responses pointed that these tourists had opportunity to enjoy the touristic destinations in Mozambique because some of them were working in the country. Other respondents went on adding that with the pandemic issues they had no desire for tourist trips. 4.2 Descriptive statistics This technique was applied to estimate the number of frequencies of observations in each category of interesting variable. Table 2 is clear that most of the respondents confirmed that they searched about the destinations before their travel (91.08%) against only 8.92% of them who said did not search. And among them, 33.83% did the searching for destinations in social media platforms, 18.59% used the helps of travel agents and 14.87% were recommendations by family, friends Characteristic Category Frequency Probability % Gender Female 83 30.86 Male 186 69.14 Age 18–34 214 79.55 35–54 52 19.33 55 and above 3 1.11 Educational background Secondary and Diploma level 69 25.65 Degree level (Bachelor, Master, PhD) 200 74.35 Marital status Single 175 65.06 Married 92 34.20 Divorced 2 0.74 Continent of residence Africa 264 98.14 America 2 0.74 Europe 3 1.11 Total 269 Source(s): Primary data from questionnaire survey, 2020 Table 1. The profiles of respondents ITPD 7,1 22 or colleagues, while the rest 13.01 and 19.70% did the searching through the government website and newspaper/Magazine/Radio/TV, respectively. The study will continue to analyze other features of variables in Tables 3 and 4. The results of Table 3 indicate that the majority of tourists (49.07%) searched on the website for information purpose, while 17.84% of the respondents’search was for other different motives than the ones mentioned in the survey. The last fraction can be compared with the others of almost the same portion (17.10%) who used the websites to purchase online travel products and services. A few answers were to order information brochure (8.92%) and 7.06% searched to contact the organization running the website. This is to say that after the world has experienced the dynamic of digital and technology era, the consumers’behaviors are changing, and the Internet is teaching people to go online and quickly search and find out about their interests. The same in the tourism industry, the potential tourists are no longer satisfied with requesting information or waiting for their arrival to obtain information about the destination. The tourists are conscious that the Variables and features Frequency Valid probability % V1-Destinations’searching frequency No 24 8.92 Yes 245 91.08 V2-Destinations’information channel Travel agent 50 18.59 Newspaper/Magazine/Radio/TV 53 19.70 Government website 35 13.01 Social media (Facebook, WhatsApp, WeChat, Twitter, Instagram) 91 33.83 Recommended by others 40 14.87 Total 269 Source(s): Primary data from questionnaire survey, 2020 Variables and features Frequency Valid probability % V3-Main searching objectives Contact the organization running the gov. website 19 7.06 For information purpose 132 49.07 Buy travelling products and services online 46 17.10 Order the guideline brochure online 24 8.92 Others 48 17.84 V4-Motives for the searching Let them know the ways that they can better serve the customers’needs 118 43.87 Make constructive suggestions on the improvement of products or services 56 20.82 Let them know the problems faced on website for help 17 6.32 Let them know my satisfaction with their services 52 19.33 Others 26 9.67 V5-Customers’interaction attitude Like and subscribe on the gov. website page 76 28.25 Write comments on the website page 141 52.41 Share the website link with other users 52 19.33 Total 269 Source(s): Primary data from questionnaire survey, 2020 Table 2. Destinations’ searching and information channel Table 3. Objectives, motives and customers’attitude in searching the government website Tourism destination marketing in Mozambique 23 (1) The findings indicated that the government website is interactive and presents relevant information and somehow satisfactorily responds to the needs of visitors and their expectations; however, its online propagation (presence) is under development. (2) The results indicated that there is little knowledge about the government website for tourism destinations marketing. Although most respondents had searched before their travel to Mozambican destinations, only 13.01% use the government website page. The majority of tourists (Africans) were the most surprised about the website’s existence, but recognized the website as a reliable channel for providing tourist information. (3) The findings in descriptive statistics analysis showed an optimistic side of the government website, when 82% of those who used the website agreed that the government website helped them to create their expectation through the information provided online. This is collaborated with the 64.7% of satisfaction level on the tourists’ expectations created by the website, because it was the same experienced on-site. (4) The Pearson correlation showed a significant positive relationship between the government website features and the visitors’searching satisfaction level, somehow confirming the “AIDA”concept on the government website. (5) The findings indicate that those who before used other channels than the government website to plan their trip showed a neutral satisfaction demonstrated by ANOVA and only after or through the survey they were able to obtain information on the website. (6) The interview findings noted that the lack of INATUR staff with knowledge and techniques of digital marketing engagement plays a medical role in solving the problem. And this can be done by designing and implementing strategies to enhance the visibility and popularity of the government website. Internal factors Strengths Weaknesses Government support Slowness in preparing an online marketing plan Partnership with different sector stakeholders Delays in implementing marketing strategies Use of diverse social media platforms Insufficiency of financial resources for promotion activities Existence of the digital marketing department Lack of professional human resources with digital or online marketing knowledge Market segmentation Poor online presence Existence of proactive and interactive web pages and follow-up activities Long site maintenance time Participation in international tourism expos/ conferences (mainly in Africa and Europe) External factors Opportunities Threats Increase in Internet users, electronic devices and technology Political instability Possibility of strengthening the website awareness and use High regional competitiveness Increase in national demand for tourism products and services Stagnation of external capital investment Closure of some tourist resorts and enterprises due to uncertainty over the Covid-19 Source(s): Primary data from questionnaire survey, 2020 Table 10. SWOT analysis of INATUR ITPD 7,1 30 6. Conclusion The goal was to scrutinize whether the government website (INATUR) is well known or not and used as an online marketing channel in promoting Mozambican tourist destinations. The study explored the tourists’and website users’searches on the government website for tourism destination marketing. The results are conclusive that there is a lack of awareness and information about the government website existence among the surveyed people. And only 13% of them used government website page and the high number used social media platforms. This figure was followed by those using travel agents, and others recommended by friends, family or colleagues. The study also investigated the indicators related to the government website visitors’ engagement behavior (CEB) in their search. The statistics pointed that the interactive attitude of website visitors and the word-of-mouth engagement were present in those who searched on the government website by letting the information services know their concerns (difficulties faced), satisfaction of their needs (likes, comments and sharing the website link with others), making constructing suggestions and giving products or services feedback. Some of them were pessimistic and neutral to speak due to the lack of awareness on the government website’s existence. The study went on castigating more about the influence of the government website’s features on the website visitors’or potential tourists’satisfaction. Considering the visitor engagement behavior on the website, it is confirmed from the correlations and ANOVA analysis that there is a positive impact of contents, images, maps and other information displayed on the website page. The features influenced the website visitors’satisfaction at different levels from each other. In general, the answers and responses obtained from the online questionnaire survey were given by three main features of the study: awareness x performance x behavior engagement, which were combined, analyzed and concluded that the government website is less effective in its role of tourism destinations marketing in Mozambique. This is related to a poor online presence, weak or ineffective online marketing activities probably due to limited resources, and consequently, its low visibility at country, region and global levels. This is to conclude by saying that government website (INATUR) still has a long way to go for its online traffic, visibility and tourism destinations marketing message to reach a wide audience among Internet users or by word-of-mouth engagement. 6.1 Recommendations for policy and decision-making One of the objectives of the study was to recommend measures for a successful tourism destination marketing website to the tourism governing body INATUR. The recommendations will be combined from the INATUR’s environment SWOT analysis and the results made for the government website on tourism DMO. The governing body INATUR should use the internal capacities and strengths to take advantage of the opportunities, by eliminating the weaknesses and minimizing threats. It is important to note that internal reforms and improvements of the activities (like marketing and management) affect the performance of any institution (Kozinets et al., 2014). Therefore, the study suggests implementation of a directory strategy that enables the government website links, joint networks (connections with other marketing web pages), and the engagement of word-of-mouth information among Internet users, which is a powerful approach for a government website traffic and visibility. To boost the popularization of its website, INATUR should proceed by implementing the following: (1) Enhance the advantage of the digital world, new technologies and the Internet (i.e. Internet Service Provider) to analyze the traffic of its website and the production of Tourism destination marketing in Mozambique 31 the website reports. It will help in the coordination, for example, of online information, products and services offered to tourists. (2) Use the social media marketing networks (Facebook, Googleþ, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube, among others) to reinforce the government website awareness and online presence, promote its products and services, and stimulate traffic to the website page. (3) Register the government website in different search engines optimization or with PPC advertising links to boost the website popularity vis- a-vis visibility which can direct Internet users and visitors to the INATUR website through search queries and keywords creation. It will allow amplifying the distribution channels, making Mozambican tourist destinations information available to more potential tourists. (4) Make use of digital marketing in designing and implementing a cost-effective, promotional mix, with innovative and specialized tourism products. Or else, imitate and copy what other successful DMOs are doing to speed up the online marketing plan and promotional activities. (5) Take advantage of the government support to request a brief resolution of the issue of political instability and Covid-19 pandemic that negatively affects the tourism sector in the country, given that tourist safety is a key factor in attracting more visits. Added to this, with the current trend of Covid-19, INATUR could start using the digital technologies for visa application. (6) Improvement of the government website with maintenance timing frequently update the contents and information to avoid government website offline services, and frustration for website visitors, causing loss of confidence in using the website among the potential visitors. Notes 1. Mozambique Strategic Plan for the Development of Tourism (https://www.tourism-review.com/ mozambique-is-proud-of-the-booming-tourism-sector-news10791) 2. Pike and Page (2014) Destination Marketing Organizations and Destination Marketing: A Narrative Analysis of the Literature. Tour Manag 41 3. 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