Perceived Destination Market Competitiveness as a Mediator Between Tourism Marketing Mix and Destination Loyalty: Evidence from Ethiopia

The objective of this study is to investigate how perceived destination market competitiveness affects the relationship between the tourism service marketing mix and tourist destination loyalty, specifically in the context of Ethiopian tourist destinations that have transitioned from "involvement" to "consolidation" stages. The population of the study is all international tourists visiting various destinations with partulcar emphasis of Top 5 destination in Ethiopia. A total of 400 questionnaires were distributed and 343 questionnaires were returned at the end of the data collection process and used for the subsequent statistical analysis, which gave the response rate of 86 percent. To analyze the research model, Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique using the SmartPLS 4 software has been used. To assess the measurement model two types of validity were being examined - first the convergent validity and then the discriminant validity. All Cronbach alpha coefficients are over 0.7, ranging from 0.709 to 0.760, indicating strong internal consistency, and are used to assess the items' unidimensionality in terms of reliability. The investigation's findings demonstrate that the following antecedents—accessibility, people, product, promotion, physical evidence, and process—showed a significant effect on destination tourist loyalty. Price, however, had no significant effect on tourists' loyalty to a destination. This study has also demonstrated that a destination's capacity to compete in the tourism industry is significantly impacted by three key elements of the marketing mix: promotion, physical evidence, and process. However, there was no significant effect of price, people, or accessibility on the destination's market's competitiveness. Destination’s market competitiveness mediates the relationship between accessibility, people, price, process and promotion since the indirect effect estimates are higher than the direct effects estimates. However, physical evidence and product does not mediate the relationship between antecedent of marketing mix and tourism destination loyalty since the indirect effect estimates are lower than the direct effects estimates. Destination marketers should focus on variables which showed a significant effect tourist destination loyalty as well as Market competitiveness. Moreover, more research is required by destination researchers to determine why accessibility, population, or price did not significantly impact the competitiveness of the destination's market.