Impact of information and communication technology usage towards the growth of tourism sector in Tanzania

This study aimed at analyzing the impact of ICT usage towards the growth of Tourism Sector in Tanzania. The specific objectives of the study were to determine the impact of ICT towards the growth of Tourism sectors in terms of Accounting Profit, Labor productivity and marketing performance. In this study a total of two hundred (200) staff/employees were selected from twenty (20) tourism companies from Dar es salaam and Arusha, questionnaires were distributed to ten (10) employees in each tourism company selected and out of that five were key informants. Apart from using primary methods, the study also employed secondary methods in collection of data. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the findings using frequency and percentages and ordered/ ordinal logistic regression model was also used to present the findings. From the findings, the study found that out of the three dependent variables (Accounting profit, labor productivity and marketing performance) only two (Marketing marketing and labor productivity) are influenced by the independent variable which is ICT USAGE. The findings showed that accounting profit is not influenced by ICT Usage but rather by other factors. The study recommends that tourism organizations should ensure that information and communication Technology is effectively used throughout their daily operations. The study has also recommended to the organization that the use of ICT for international business actions can remarkably reduce firm’s costs, and thus strengthen the firm’s Internal resource-base for its international operations. The study provided recommendations to the regulatory authorities and policy makers concerning internationalization of the tourism. The study discussed the importance of having suitable rules that will enable tourism in international business. The study has recommended that regulations on the taxes that are being charged to the tourism should be evaluated as most of the business owners complained on the higher costs that are associated with taxes. The government should review and update on the policies and regulations patterning to the taxes that are being charged to the tourism. This study covered the role of information and communication technology in facilitating the growth of tourism in Tanzania, the study used Dar es salaam and Arusha regions only as case study, in which further studies can be done in other regions. Also the study concentrated in only three variables of internalization of the tourism in which other variables can be further discussed. Through the study findings, one of the dependant variable (Accounting Profit) was not influenced by the independent variable (ICT Usage) therefore further research can be done to determine which other factors influence the profit of the tourism sector and to which extent those factors influence accounting profit.