Investigating the Practices and Challenges of Public Relations in Promoting Tourism Sites in the South-West Ethiopia Region

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.