Abstract:
This study is aimed at investigating the practice and challenges of public relations in promoting
tourism sites in the Southwest Ethiopia Region (SWERS).. The study involved three selected
zones, namely Dawro, Konta, and Kaffa. Most importantly, it investigated the major public
relations activities performed by SWERS Culture, Tourism, and Sports offices as well as the
government communication affairs Bureau in promoting tourism sites in the region. It also
identified the practical tools for promoting tourism sites in the region and investigated the
challenges of public relations in promoting tourism sites. A descriptive research design that
encompasses both qualitative and quantitative research approaches was employed. The
researcher purposefully selected 108 samples from the target populations. Purposive and
stratified sampling techniques were employed. The study employed closed-ended questionnaires,
unstructured in-depth interviews, and document reviews as data-gathering tools. The
quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS version 22. Descriptive statistics such as frequency,
percentage, and mean were computed. Qualitative data were used to triangulated the findings
from the quantitative data. The study found that there was a practice of public relations in the
tourism industry as well as in the communication bureau, especially in promoting tourism sites
in the SWE region. The study has also identified various public relations tools, such as print
media. Besides, there were executive and technician roles in public relations in their bureau for
promoting tourism sites, though their effort was not found to be significant. Most of the
interviewees indicated that the public relations officers were assigned without their profession
and did not have managerial roles in the bureau, so they are working as technicians. In addition,
public relations practitioners faced challenges that affected the promotion of tourist destination
sites in the region. Finally, the study recommended that the region should pay special attention
to public relations and its profession by utilizing new-age media and modern technologies as
tools, offering comprehensive training programs to PR professionals, and working hard to
minimize the challenges of public relations practices.
