EVALUATION OF MARKETING PLANNING PROCESS IN THE NIGERIAN HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
ABSTRACT
The Nigeria hospitality industry came into being in Nigeria with the coming of the Colonial Administrators. It comprises of accommodation, food and beverages and entertainment to travelers. Most organizations in the Nigerian hospitality industry lack marketing plan. As a result, the following specific problems are prevalent: non-existence of marketing department, non-existence of marketing objectives, and non-existence of marketing information system and non-existence of formal structure for marketing activities. The research study was designed and carried out to achieve the following objectives: to evaluate the level of awareness of marketing planning process in the Nigerian hospitality industry; to access the impact of inadequate marketing planning process on the profitability of the industry and to make accommodation on how the Nigerian hospitality could introduce and adopt marketing planning process in their analysed. Questionnaire was designed and administered on Grand Hotel & Resort, Asaba, Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos Royalton Hotel, and Abuja. Taro Yamane’s Model was to find the sample size from the finite population. The analyses of both primary and secondary data revealed the following facts: Low level of appreciation of marketing planning process by the Nigerian hospitality industry. Marketing planning process assist in the achievement of corporate goals in the Nigerian hospitality industry. Marketing planning system leads to increase in the profitability of the Nigerian hospitality industry. Nigerian hospitality industry do in fact allocate budget to marketing activities to help achieve corporate goals. Existence of marketing information system in the Nigerian hospitality industry to assist in decision-making. Based on the findings, the following recommendations were made for the improvement of the application of marketing planning process in the hospitality industry. Employees of the Nigerian hospitality industry should be exposed to the concept and application of marketing planning process through workshops, seminar, in-house training etc. Formalization of the marketing planning process in Nigeria hospitality industry. Religious application of marketing planning process by the hospitality industry in order to improve profitability and achieve corporate goals. The industry should create better incentives and work environment in order to attract qualified personnel. Marketing information system should be improved upon, in order to provide quality information for decision-making. More resource should be allocated to marketing activity in order to achieve better corporate goals. Research concluded by stating that the study revealed that marketing planning process has significant impact on the Nigerian hospitality industry. The industry needs to create the necessary structure and attract qualified personnel in order to take full advantage of the benefits of marketing planning process.