Business tourism organisations in South Africa : a strategic integrated communication approach (SIC)

Abstract

The business tourism organisations in South Africa are operating in multifaceted, interrelated business environments that are fast-paced and turbulent in nature. As a result, to survive the rapidly changing business environments, the business tourism industry has to adopt new ways of communicating with their stakeholders. The new ways of communicating will enable the industry to better cooperate and collaborate so as to deliver the best business tourism experiences as well as achieve long-term relationships with all stakeholders. Communication holds the potential of ensuring that the varied role-players within the business tourism industry are able to work together, cooperate and create a unified business tourism industry. Hence it is argued in this study that the business tourism industry should apply a more strategic communication approach to advance the goals of the business tourism organisation. Against this background it is proposed that a SIC be followed by the business tourism industry in South Africa to achieve collaborations among the varied industry role-players, to achieve long-term stakeholder relations. The study follows the broader Strategic Integrated Communication (SIC) model as proposed by Niemann (2005) as the guideline to applying SIC in the business tourism organisations in South Africa - the argument being that the adaption of the SIC model will assist in addressing the needs and challenges of the business tourism organisation context. The general research question addressed in this study was: How can managers and communication practitioners in business tourism organisations in South Africa apply principles of strategic integrated communication to advance the goals of their various business tourism organisations? The study employed empirical methods consisting of semi-structured interviews and focus groups as means of evaluating the feasibility of the proposed framework. Managers and communication practitioners within business tourism organisations in South Africa were engaged through semi-structured interviews while business tourism and event organisers were engaged through focus groups. The study indicated that the SIC model can suitably fit within the business tourism organisations context due to the industry requiring a large amount of integration amongst its various industry role-players, departments as well as regional work into which the industry is fragmented. however, the study found that while business tourism organisations in South Africa are aware of the importance of communication in the industry, they do not regard communication as central to the organisational operations. The study revealed that managers and communication practitioners are still holding on to dated communication practices that are not aligned with strategic intent and

learning organisational principles. However, the findings of the study also reveal that the current communication approaches followed by both the top management and communication practitioners are not totally aligned with the latest strategic integrated approach that is essential in the current business tourism environments. The exploration of the SIC model assists the industry in creating a good stakeholder experience through collaboration of all the varied role-players, while enabling an integrated approach to the organisation, stakeholders and environment.