| dc.description.abstract | Companies should use competitive product-market tactics to ensure their continued existence and viability in the market. They should also outperform competitors who employ other generic strategy forms or those caught in the mediocre zone. Although several studies have been conducted in the tourism industry, very little is known about the marketing strategies Tanzanian tour companies use. The study’s goal was to find out how Arusha travel companies’ use of market-product strategies affects their ability to capture market share. The investigation’s particular goals were to ascertain how approaches to market penetration affect the growth of market share for travel agencies located in Arusha and to investigate the relationship between approaches to product development and the growth of market share for those same agencies; determine the extent to which market development strategies influence travel agencies in Arusha by increasing their market share; and determine the link between strategies of diversification and the growth of marketplace proportion for travel agencies situated in Arusha. Strategies for expanding market share in the hospitality business include market penetration, diversification, market expansion and development of products. This study is of benefit to various stakeholders in the hospitality industry, including tours and travel companies, Ministry of Tourism, and policymakers. The study was grounded on three theories, that is, endogenous growth, neo-classical growth, and resource advantage theories. A survey research design was employed in the study, targeting marketing managers from tour companies in Arusha. To determine the sample size, the researcher utilized basic random sampling. The data was gathered from a sample of 44 respondents. The marketing managers were handed a questionnaire with 17 questions to complete. Quantitative techniques were used to analyze the information gathered. When the data was acquired, it was cleaned, coded, categorized, and sorted. Information was then computed both by computations of deductive and expressive nature. Results indicate that market penetration strategy (β = .732, p = .000<.05), strategy of product development (β = .446, p = .015<.05) and market development strategy (β = .346, p = .030<.05) significantly influence market share at 95% confidence level while diversification strategy does not (β =.209, p = .174>.05). Results from the R square values further show that market penetration strategy, strategy of product development, market development strategy and diversification strategy contribute to 46.8% of the variations in market share, while the remaining 53.2% is extra variables not considered for under the current regression framework. The conclusion of the study is that a statistically substantial linkage exists between market share in Arusha’s tourism sector and market penetration approach. It is also inferred that a statistically substantial linkage exists between strategy of product development was substantially linked with share of the market in the tourism industry in Arusha. The study further concludes that there exists a substantially notable link between market development strategy was substantially linked with share of the market in the tourism industry in Arusha. The study is also of the conclusion that diversification strategy does not have a statistically significant relationship with market share in the tourism industry in Arusha. It is recommended that in addition to sustaining and improving current practices under the strategy, tour companies in the country ought to continue to embrace the market-product penetration strategies. | en_US |
