Integrating Environmental Sustainability into Destination Marketing Strategy towards Destination Competitiveness: Evidence from Nigeria

Abstract

An increase in the number of international tourists looking out for sustainable tourism destinations has made many destination marketing organisations and business managers in the tourism ecosystem think towards integrating environmental sustainability into their marketing strategies in order to attract more tourists. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the importance of integrating environmental sustainability into destination marketing strategy towards destination competitiveness, and also measure the relationship between environmental sustainability and Nigeria's tourism performance as measured with international tourist arrivals and international tourism receipts. The study adopted mixed methods of quantitative and qualitative. For qualitative, literature was reviewed and observations were made on the state of sustainability practices in Nigeria. Quantitatively, secondary data were collected from the database of the World Economic Forum on environmental sustainability index and the World Bank on international tourist arrivals and tourism receipts from 2006 – 2019. The findings show that marketing has evolved over the years to focus on not just customer satisfaction but social and environmental sustainability. Besides, the quantitative analysis revealed a weak relationship between environmental sustainability and international tourist arrivals and tourism receipts. The study recommends environmental sustainability issues must be integrated into the marketing strategies of the destination marketing organisation and other stakeholders in the tourism sector in Nigeria in order to attract more tourists from developed and sustainability-conscious nations, which would lead to more tourists and revenue to Nigeria.