Digital Marketing Adoption in Selected Agritourism Farm Sites in CALABARZON Region, Philippines

Date

6-2023

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness Management

College

College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Renen Szilardo C. De Guzman

Committee Member

Remund Jordan D. Labios, Mar B. Cruz

Abstract

Digital marketing is a necessary trend that businesses leverage to gain competitive advantage; however, its level of utilization in the agritourism industry has been lacking further study. Similar to digital marketing, agritourism became a trend, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic affected the Philippine economy.

With the abrupt transition from physical to virtual transactions, the relevance of digitalization has dramatically increased and threatened industries whose practices are anchored in the former. One example is the tourism industry. The imposition of community lockdowns for safety reasons has negatively affected the tourism industry due to strict rules and regulations regarding the accommodation of visitors. Hence, promoting agritourism is considered an important strategy to help the country recover in the new normal because it not only provides revenue to the economy but also a means of livelihood and food security, given the nature of the industry. Agritourism involves a series of diverse offerings —from tangible products to various experiences. It is the engagement in agricultural activities to maintain or improve the environment while ensuring that customer satisfaction is met, thus, also enhancing the tourist experience. One best way to promote the industry is to take advantage of digital marketing.

The general objective of the study is to assess the factors that influence the adoption of digital marketing among selected agritourism farm sites in CALABARZON. It determined the following: a) business profile, b) current status of their digital marketing adoption, c) extent of their digital marketing and social media utilization, d) Facebook presence, e) human capital and financial investments, and f) influence of their perceptions on their attitude, which affects their intention to use, and eventually, adoption of digital marketing. To obtain the data necessary to substantiate the study, a semi-structured interview and survey were conducted and analyzed afterward.

The agritourism farms are concentrated in Cavite and Laguna. The earliest farm site was established in 2005, but on average, half of them have been in the industry for more than five years. Moreover, with the average employees they employ, the farms are operating with small-scale manpower; however, this does not limit them from being able to accommodate a great number of tourists on their peak days—Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and non-peak days. These farms also offer a wide range of products and services, namely crop produce and farm tours, respectively. On average, visitors may enjoy multiple number of activities on the farms.

All farms utilize digital marketing, but they have not maximized its potential. Most of them adopted digital marketing to promote their offerings and reach a wider customer base. When deciding whether to adopt, many had no reservations because some of them are already digital individuals while others are aware of the benefits of digital marketing, relieving their worries. However, there are still challenges that they experienced upon adoption, including the lack of digital marketing experience and expertise, limiting them from fully exploring the platforms. They approach digital marketing as if it is their personal digital and social media accounts, rather than a strategic tool for marketing.

Their digital marketing utilization reflects their level of adoption. There is no intensive and extensive use of digital marketing in the agritourism industry in CALABARZON, as evidenced by the fact that most farms only utilize those popular types of digital marketing. Among the different digital marketing types, social media marketing, email marketing, and website are the most used. Having a shopping site is not common, but those who have one use Facebook Marketplace. Moreover, none of them have online food delivery services due to the limitations of distance and variety of service offerings.

There are different hindrances limiting them from using some digital marketing types and/or platforms, but among them, the most common is the lack of human resources. Specific to social media, the usage is still not fully maximized despite being the leading digital marketing platform used. Similar to their use of digital marketing, they only utilize popular social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Most use these platforms to promote their products and services and establish customer relations. Regarding the current challenges they experience in using digital marketing, many also have none, but others are worried about competitors, creating content, and keeping up and staying updated with the trends.

Upon assessing their online presence through Facebook auditing, most of them do not utilize their page well, with their low number of postings during the first quarter of 2023. They also have a low number of engagements for their posts, which suggests that the number of Facebook page likes and followers are not indicative of how well they utilize the platform. These farm sites need to step up in their use of digital marketing to gain a greater competitive advantage.

In general, perceptions toward digital marketing hold a significant role in the attitudes of farms, which also determine whether farms will intend to adopt it. Although the different perceptions considered are seen to be generally positive, only perceived usefulness and perceived effect are relevant in explaining the phenomenon based on the result of the ordinal logistic regression. On the other hand, the relationship between intention and adoption has not been proven statistically.

Nevertheless, there are still points for improvement not only to the industry but to the enterprises themselves as well as the future researchers. The lack of human resources can be addressed by hiring a digital marketing team, while the lack of expertise and experience in digital marketing could be managed through conducting training sessions and seminars that would equip them with knowledge in technology and digital marketing, thereby increasing their competitive edge against competitors. On the other hand, future researchers should consider conducting the study in more regions, increasing the number of participants, and having more extensive digital auditing.

Language

English

LC Subject

Agritourism, Electronic commerce

Location

UPLB College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Call Number

LG 993 2023 M17 M56

Notes

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Document Type

Thesis

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