TURNING INTEREST INTO ATTENDANCE: THE COMMUNICATION CHANNELS THAT INSPIRE EVENT PARTICIPATION IN OMAN

Year 2025, Volume: 12 Issue: 2 , 57 - 69 , 31.12.2025

Raja Tumati , Saif Ahmed Al-Harthi Wafa Saleh Al Buraiki

https://izlik.org/JA49AY84DK

Abstract

Purpose - The main aim of this study was to assess the role of marketing communication channels in enhancing visitor participation in Oman’s
events. The study examines event companies' adoption of traditional and digital marketing communication channels, visitor expectations of
these channels, and their link to increased attendance at events.
Methodology - This study used a quantitative research approach and exploratory research design. Random sampling was performed in this
study. A questionnaire was used to collect data. The ethics form was completed, and after approval, data were collected from 195
respondents.
Findings - The findings of the study included the majority of respondents who attended the Muscat Nights event (n=86). A total of 56.4% of
respondents obtained complete information on the events via communication channels. Friends and family are traditional channels of
communication that visitors expect for event information (4.51). Visitors' expectations of digital communication platforms for events include
social media influencers (4.41). On the other hand, event companies use digital communication methods to spread event information via
radio and television news (4.21), while SMS to mobile phones is the most common digital communication mode used by event companies
(4.53). The study revealed a strong association between traditional and digital communication channels, with traditional channels
demonstrating a significant value of 0.034 and digital channels achieving a significant value of 0.032, indicating a strong link between these
two channels and increased event visitor participation.
Conclusion - The study suggests that event planners and organizers should utilize both traditional and digital marketing channels to reach
their target demographic, as both complement each other and increase attendance.

Keywords

digital channels , traditional channels , event participation , social media , communication gap

References

• Afridah & Lubis, M. (2024). Role of communication and employee engagement in promoting ınclusion in the workplace: a case study in the creative ındustry. Feedback International Journal of Communication, 1(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.62569/fijc.v1i1.8
• Al-Badi, A., Tarhini, A., & Al-Sawaei, S. (2017). Utilizing social media to encourage domestic tourism in Oman. International Journal of Business and Management, 12(4), 84-95. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v12n4p84
• Aljukhadar, M., Bériault Poirier, A., & Senecal, S. (2020). Imagery makes social media captivating! Aesthetic value in a consumer-as-value- maximizer framework. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 14(3), 285–303. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-10-2018-0136
• Al-Lawati, H. A. R. (2024, March 6). Why revitalizing the events sector can help drive economic growth? Oman Observer. https://www.omanobserver.om/article/1150628/opinion/business/why-revitalizing-the-events-sector-can-help-drive-economic-growth
• Allied Market Research (2025, January 10). Events Industry Market to hit $2.5 trillion by 2035. Allied Market Research, https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/, All Right Reserved 2025. https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/press-release/events-industry- market.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com
• Al-Rubai’ey, F., & Al-Sharafi, A. G. (2023). Ethos in COVID-19 crisis communication: evidence from Oman. Journal of Risk Research, 26(9), 931–946. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2023.2230983
• Bryman, A. (2016). Social Research Methods (5th ed.). London: Oxford University Press.
• Butkouskaya, V., Oyner, O., & Kazakov, S. (2023). The impact of omnichannel integrated marketing communications (IMC) on product and retail service satisfaction. Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Science, 28(56), 319–334. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEFAS-09- 2022-0237
• Chaffey, D., & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2019). Digital Marketing: Strategy and Implementation. (7th ed.). Pearson Education.
• Claxton, B. L., & Barthlow, M. (2024). A Step-by-Step Guide to Conducting Quantitative Research. (1st ed.). Kendall Hunt Publishing.
• Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Sage, Los Angeles.
• Cizrelioğulları, M. N., Uwajeh, P. C., & Babayıgıt, M. V. (2019). The ımpact of social media on the marketing communication in the tourism and hospitality ındustry. European Journal of Managerial Research, 3(4), 45-58. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/eujmr/issue/43811/458264
• Cvent Blog (2025, April 3). The Ultimate guide to event communication. Cvent Blog. https://www.cvent.com/en/blog/events/event- communication
• Daskin, M., & Tumati, R. (2024). Factors influencing Omani Gen Z tourists' destination choices. Yaşar Üniversitesi E-Dergisi, 19(73), 62-81. https://doi.org/10.19168/jyasar.1253696
• Danielsbacka, M., Tammisalo, K., & Tanskanen, A, O. (2022). Digital and traditional communication with kin: displacement or reinforcement? Journal of Family Studies 29(3), 1270–1291. https://doi.org/10.1080/13229400.2022.2040575
• Dwivedi, Y. K., Kapoor, K. K., Chen, H. (2015). Social media marketing and advertising. The Marketing Review, 15(3), 289–309.
• Erkan, I., & Evans, C. (2016). The influence of eWOM in social media on consumers’ purchase intentions: An extended approach to information adoption. Computers in Human Behaviour, 61, 47–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.03.003
• Alwi, S. F. S., Balmer, J. M. T., Stoian, M. C., & Kitchen. P. J. (2022). Introducing integrated hybrid communication: the nexus linking marketing communication and corporate communication. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 2(4), 405–432. https://doi.org/10.1108/QMR-09-2021-0123
• Fill, C., & Turnbull, S. (2019). Marketing Communications. (8th ed.). Pearson.
• Fill, C., & Turnbull, S. (2016). Marketing Communications: Discovery, Creation and Conversations (7th ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
• Fitriana, F., Kamase, J., Ramlawati, R., & Rahman, Z. (2021). The effect of ıntegrated marketing communication on ımage, satisfaction and loyalty of hotel guests in Makassar City. International Journal of Health, Economics, and Social Sciences (IJHESS), 3(2), 74-91. https://doi.org/10.56338/ijhess.v3i2.1470
• Fraccastoro, S., Gabrielsson, M., & Pullins, E. B. (2021). The ıntegrated use of social media, digital, and traditional communication tools in the B2B sales process of ınternational SMEs. International Business Review, 30(4), 126-138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2020.101776
• Garay, L., & Morales Pérez, S. (2017). Understanding the creation of destination images through a festival’s Twitter conversation. International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 8(1), 39–54. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEFM-04-2016-0030
• Geraghty, G. & Conway, A. (2016). The Study of Traditional and Non-traditional Marketing Communications: Target Marketing in the Events Sector. Paper presented at the 12th Annual Tourism and Hospitality Research in Ireland Conference, THRIC 2016, 16th and 17th June, Limerick Institute of Technology. https://doi.org/10.21427/D7BV19
• Getz, D. (2012). Event studies: discourses and future directions. Event Management, 16(2),171–187. https://doi.org/10.3727/152599512X13343565268456
• Grönroos, C. (2011). Service Management and Marketing: Customer Management in Service Competition. (3rd ed.). Wiley.
• Habib, A., Hossain, A., & Oma, T. (2015). Impact of advertisement on consumer choice: A case of SME and consumers. Singaporean Journal of business Economics, and Management Studies, 4(5), 1-15. https://platform.almanhal.com/Reader/Article/74113
• Hänninen, N., & Karjaluoto, H. (2017). The effect of marketing communication on business relationship loyalty. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 35(4), 458–472. https://doi.org/10.1108/MIP-01-2016-0006
• Harb, A. A., Fowler, D., Chang, H. J., Blum, S.C., Alakaleek, W. (2019). Social media as a marketing tool for events. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 10(1), 28–44. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTT-03-2017-0027
• Jackson, N., & Angliss, K. (2017). A practical guide to event promotion. Routledge eBooks, (1st edn.) (pp. 27–43). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315690285-4
• Jin, S. V., Muqaddam, A., & Ryu, E. (2019). Instafamous and social media influencer marketing. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 37(5), 567– 579. https://doi.org/10.1108/MIP-09-2018-0375
• Keller, K. L. (2016). Unlocking the power of integrated marketing communications: how integrated is your imc program? Journal of Advertising, 45(3), 286–301.
• Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2016). Marketing Management (15th ed.). Pearson Education.
• Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2018). Principles of Marketing (17th ed.). The University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing. https://open.lib.umn.edu/principlesmarketing/
• Kothari, C. R., & Garg, G. (2023). Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques. 5th ed. New Age International (P) Ltd.
• Kumar, V., Choi, J. B., & Greene, M. (2017). Synergistic effects of social media and traditional marketing on brand sales: Capturing the time- varying effects. Journal of the Academy of marketing Science, 45, 268-288. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-016-0484- 7
• Lazer, D. M. J., Baum, M. A., Benkler, Y., Berinsky, A. J., Greenhill, K. M., Menczer, F.,Metzger, M. J., Nyhan, B., Pennycook, G., Rothschild, D., Schudson, M., Sloman, S. A., Sunstein, C. R., Thorson, E. A., Watts, D. J., & Zittrain, J. L. (2018). The science of fake news: Addressing fake news requires a multidisciplinary effort. Science, 359(6380),1094–1096. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao2998
• Liu, Y., & Draper, J. (2022). the influence of attending festivals with children on family quality of life, subjective well-being, and event experience. Event Management, 26(1), 25-40. doi:10.3727/152599521X16192004803593
• Luxton, S., Reid, M., & Mavondo, F. (2017). IMC capability: antecedents and implications for brand performance. European Journal of Marketing, 51(3), 421-444. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-08-2015-0583
• Mair, J., & Weber, K. (2019). Event and festival research: a review and research directions. International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 10(3), 209-216. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEFM-10-2019-080
• Morra, M. C., Ceruti, F., Chierici, R., & DiGregorio, A. (2018). Social vs traditional media communication: Brand origin associations strike a chord. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 12(1), 2–21. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-12-2016-0116
• Murtiasih, S., Hermana, B., & Febriani, W. (2021). The effect of marketing communication on brand equity with brand ımage, brand trust, and brand loyalty as the ıntervening variables. Journal of International Business Research and Marketing, 7(1), 7-16.
• Mustafa, S., & Al-Abduallah, G. (2020). The evaluation of traditional communication channels and its impact on purchase decision. Management Science Letters, 10(7), 1521-1532. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.msl.2019.12.014
• Oman Observer (2016, December 29). Ithraa launches briefings on economy. Oman Observer. https://www.omanobserver.om/article/91110/Local/ithraa-launches-briefings-on-economy
• Oxford Business Group. (2017). Oman seeks to diversify tourism. Oman seeks to diversify tourism - Oman 2017 - Oxford Business Group. Oxford Business Group. https://oxfordbusinessgroup.com/reports/oman/2017-report/economy/one-niche-at-a-time-the-sultanate-is- aiming-to-diversify-its-tourism-offering
• Porcu, L., del Barrio-García, S., Alcántara-Pilar, J. M., & Crespo-Almendros, E. (2019). Analysing the influence of firm-wide integrated marketing communication on market performance in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 80, 13–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.ijhm.2019.01.008
• Putra, A. A., Susilo, D., & Putranto, T. D. (2023). Digital Marketing Communication Strategy for Hotel Episode Gading Serpong Via Instagram @ episodegadingserpong. Jurnal Ekonomi, 12(3), 346-353. https://www.ejournal.seaninstitute.or.id/index.php/Ekonomi/article/view/2035
• Rehman, S. U., Gulzar, R., & Aslam, W. (2022). Developing the integrated marketing communication (IMC) through social media (SM): the modern marketing communication approach. SAGE Open, 12(2), 65-73. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221099936
• Rentman. (2025, July 15). Mastering Event Communication: A Straightforward Guide to Success. https://rentman.io/blog/event- communication
• Schmitt, B. H. (2003). Customer Experience Management. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
• Sicilia, M., & Palazón, M. (2023). Developing customer engagement through communication consistency and channel coordination. Spanish Journal of Marketing - ESIC, 27(2), 241–260. https://doi.org/10.1108/sjme-02-2022-0022
• Statista. (2025, March 26). Most used social networks 2025, by number of users. https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social- networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/
• Todor, R. D. (2016). Blending traditional and digital marketing. Bulletin of the Transylvania University of Brasov. Series V: Economic Sciences, 51-56. https://webbut.unitbv.ro/index.php/SeriesV/article/ view/3611/2848
• Tümer, M., Aghaei, I., Öney, E., & Eddine, Y. N. (2019). The impact of traditional and social media marketing on customers’ brand trust and purchase intentions in the Turkish airline market. Journal of Research in Emerging Markets, 1(4), 55–68. https://doi.org/10.30585/jrems.v1i4.344
• Tumati, R. & Daşkın, M. & Yavuz, E. (2024). Power of Social Media Influencers in Shaping Omani Tourists Decisions. Özgür Yayınları. https://doi.org/10.58830/ozgur.pub507
• Tumati, R. & Al Sulaimi, R. A. (2023). The Digital Frontier: Exhibiting the transformative ımpact of technology on enhancing event attendees: experiences in Oman. International Journal of Research in Entrepreneurship & Business Studies, 4(4), 15-30. https://doi.org/10.47259/ijrebs.442
• Simon, J. (2023, April 10). How an effective communication plan leads to a successful event. Stova. https://stova.io/effective-communication- plans-lead-to-successful-events/
• Van Dijk, J. A. (2020). A theory of the digital divide, in The Digital Divide, Polity Press, pp. 29–52. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336775102_The_Digital_Divide
• Vlachakis S., Siakas K. V., Naaranoja, M., Chatzipoulidis, A. & Kargidis T. (2018). A case study on adoption of marketing communication channels in Greek familybusinesses. Conference: ICCMI 2018, Athens, Greece. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327869420_A_case_study_on_adoption_of_marketing_communication_channels_in_Greek_fa mily_businesses
• Zawya. (2024, January 22). Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre celebrates record-breaking success with 1.5mln visitors in 2023. ACE Times. https://www.zawya.com/en/press-release/companies-news/oman-convention-and-exhibition-centre-celebrates-record-breaking- success-with-15mln-visitors-in-2023-u5179x6o?utm_source=chatgpt.com
• Żyminkowska, K. (2019). Customer Engagement in Theory and Practice: A Marketing Management Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan.