Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

Assessment of Customer Satisfaction of Domestic Tourists in Resorts


Affiliations
1 Associate Professor, Department of Hotel Management, Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, Vaddeswaram, Andhra Pradesh, India
2 Faculty & Research Scholar, Department of Tourism & Hospitality, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


The research objective is about finding the customer satisfaction of domestic tourists visiting resorts. On the tourism marketing point of view knowing the tourist expectations is important and what satisfies them and what did not satisfy the tourists should also be found out to take necessary corrective actions. Study on customer satisfaction in resorts in India is scarce and hence this study is initiated. It is a primary research done with standard questionnaires being issued to family tourists who visited resorts in Mahabalipuram and a modified Servqual model has been used in this study with five constructs namely reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibility, which constitute the functional aspects of a resort. Judgment sampling method was used in the study. Five hypotheses were framed and tested using SPSS and Smart PLS Softwares. Customer satisfaction with respect of the five aspects related to the service quality has been evaluated. The results show that all the five aspects did influence the customer satisfaction of the tourists. The level of customer satisfaction of tourists was found to be good. Tourists were found to give more importance for the reliability aspect in resorts.

Keywords

Customer Satisfaction, Tourist Satisfaction, Service Quality, Domestic Tourism, Resort Tourism.
Subscription Login to verify subscription
User
Notifications
Font Size


  • Agarwal, P., & Shukla, D. (2016). Customer satisfaction on front-office service quality at Holiday Inn, Bangkok. St. Theresa Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 1(2).
  • Ali F, & Amin. M. (2014). The influence of physical environment on emotions, customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions in Chinese resort hotel industry. Journal for Global Business Advancement, 7(3), 249-266.
  • Ali, F., Hussain, K., & Ryu, K. (2017). Resort hotel service performance (RESERVE): An instrument to measure tourists’ perceived service performance of resort hotels. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 34(4), 556-569.
  • Anderson, E. W., & Fornell, C. (2000). Foundations of the American customer satisfaction index. Total Quality Management, 11(7), 869-882.
  • Bonnefoy-Claudet, L., & Ghantous, N. (2013). Emotions’ impact on tourists’ satisfaction with ski resorts: The mediating role of perceived value. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 30(6), 624-637.
  • Brown, T. J., Churchill, G. A., & Pete, J. P. (1993). Improving the measurement of service quality. Journal of Retailing, 69(1), 127-139.
  • Chen, C. M., Lee, H. T., Chen, S. H., & Huang, T. H. (2011). Tourist behavioural intentions in relation to service quality and customer satisfaction in Kinmen National Park, Taiwan. International Journal of Tourism Research,13(5), 416-432.
  • Churchill, Jr. G. A., & Surprenant, C. (1982). An investigation into the determinants of customer satisfaction.
  • Journal of Marketing Research, 19(4), 491-504.
  • Chi, C. G. Q., & Qu, H. (200). Examining the structural relationships of destination image, tourist satisfaction and destination loyalty: An integrated approach. Tourism Management, 29(4), 624-636.
  • Cronin, J. J.-J., & Taylor, S. A. (2009). A structural equation analysis of the QSL relationship with passenger riding experience on high-speed rail: An empirical study of Taiwan and Korea. Expert Systems with Applications: An International Journal, 36(3), 6945-6955.
  • Cronin, Jr JJ, & Taylor, S. A. (1992). Measuring service quality: A re-examination and extension. The Journal of Marketing, 56, 55-68.
  • Cronin, J. J.-J., & Taylor, S. A. (1994). SERVPERF versus SERVQUAL: Reconciling performance-based and perceptions-minus-expectations measurement of service quality. The Journal of Marketing, 58(1994), 125-131.
  • Cronin, J. J., Brady, M. K., & Brand, R. R., Hightower, Jr. R., & Shemwell, D. J. (1997). A cross-sectional test of the effect and conceptualization of service value. Journal of services Marketing, 11(6), 375-391.
  • Corte, V. D., Sciarelli, M., Cascella, C., & Gaudio, G. D. (2015). Customer satisfaction in tourist destination: The case of tourism offer in the city of Naples. Journal of Investment and Management, 4(1-1), 39-50.
  • Dominici, G., & Guzzo, R. (2010). Customer satisfaction in the hotel industry: A case study from Sicily. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 2(2), 3-12.
  • Gronroos, C. (1990). Service management and marketing. Lexington Books, Lexington, MA.
  • Holjevac, I. A., Marković, S., & Raspor, S. (2009, January). Customer satisfaction measurement in hotel industry: Content analysis study. In 4th International Scientific Conference. Planning for the future learning from the past: Contemporary Developments in Tourism, Travel & Hospitality
  • Hsu, C. H., Wolfe, K., & Kang, S. K. (2004). Image assessment for a destination with limited comparative advantages. Tourism Management, 25(1), 121-126.
  • Hui, T. K., Wan, D., & Ho, A. (2007). Tourists’ satisfaction, recommendation and revisiting Singapore. Tourism Management, 28(4), 965-975.
  • Kim, D. Y., Lehto, X. Y., & Morrison, A. M. (2007). Gender differences in online travel information search: Implications for marketing communications on the internet. Tourism Management, 28(2), 423-433.
  • Kotler, P. (2000). Marketing management: Planning, analysis, implementation and control.
  • Kothari, C. R. (2004). Research methodology: Methods and techniques. New Age International.
  • Lam, T., & Zhang, H. Q. (1999). Service quality of travel agents: The case of travel agents in Hong Kong. Tourism Management, 20(3), 341-349.
  • Lehtinen U., & Lehtinen J. R. (1991). Two approaches to service quality dimensions. Service Industries Journal, 11(3), 287-303.
  • Madhavan, M., & George, A. (2017). Service quality of hotel flats-experience of Philipino tourists. Clear International Journal of Research in Commerce & Management, 8(7).
  • Nawijn, J. (2011). Determinants of daily happiness on vacation. Journal of Travel Research, 50(5), 559-566. 0047287510379164.
  • Olsen, S. O. (2002). Comparative evaluation and the relationship between quality, satisfaction, and repurchase loyalty. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 30(3), 240-249.
  • Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1985). A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research. The Journal of Marketing, 41-50.
  • Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1988). SERVQUAL: A multi-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. Journal of Retailing., 64, 21-40.
  • Rust, R. T., & Oliver. R. L. (1994). Service quality: Insights and managerial implications from the frontier. Service Quality: New Directions in Theory and Practice. Sage Publications, pp. 1-19.
  • Saravana Kumar, G., & Krishnaraj, R. (2015). Vacation decision making process of domestic family tourists. International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, 10(2), 3857-3870.
  • Silvestri, C., Aquilani, B., & Ruggieri, A. (2017). Service quality and customer satisfaction in thermal tourism. The TQM Journal, 29(1), 55-81.
  • Siskos, Y., Grigoroudis E., & Zopounidis C. (1998). Measuring customer satisfaction using a collective preference disaggregation model. Journal of Global Optimization, 12, 175-195.
  • Van Raaij, W. F., & Francken, D. A. (1984). Vacation decisions, activities, and satisfactions. Annals of Tourism Research, 11(1), 101-112.
  • Van Raaij, W. (1986). Consumer research on tourism mental and behavioral constructs. Annals of Tourism Research, 13(1), 1-9.
  • Vavra, T. G. (1997). Improving your measurement of customer satisfaction: A guide to creating, conducting, analyzing, and reporting customer satisfaction measurement programs. ASQ Quality Press.
  • WTO. (1985). Identification and evaluation of those components of tourism services which have a bearing on tourist satisfaction and which can be regulated and state measures to ensure adequate quality of tourism services. World Tourism Organization, Madrid.
  • Wu, C. H. J. (2007). The impact of customer-to-customer interaction and customer homogeneity on customer satisfaction in tourism service - The service encounter prospective. Tourism Management, 28(6), 1518-1528.
  • Yuksel, A., & Rimmington, M. (1998). Customer-satisfaction measurement. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 39(6).
  • Yuksel, A. (2001). Managing customer satisfaction and retention: A case of tourist destinations, Turkey. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 7(2), 153-168.

Abstract Views: 366

PDF Views: 0




  • Assessment of Customer Satisfaction of Domestic Tourists in Resorts

Abstract Views: 366  |  PDF Views: 0

Authors

G. Saravana Kumar
Associate Professor, Department of Hotel Management, Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, Vaddeswaram, Andhra Pradesh, India
N. Geetha Soni
Faculty & Research Scholar, Department of Tourism & Hospitality, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract


The research objective is about finding the customer satisfaction of domestic tourists visiting resorts. On the tourism marketing point of view knowing the tourist expectations is important and what satisfies them and what did not satisfy the tourists should also be found out to take necessary corrective actions. Study on customer satisfaction in resorts in India is scarce and hence this study is initiated. It is a primary research done with standard questionnaires being issued to family tourists who visited resorts in Mahabalipuram and a modified Servqual model has been used in this study with five constructs namely reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibility, which constitute the functional aspects of a resort. Judgment sampling method was used in the study. Five hypotheses were framed and tested using SPSS and Smart PLS Softwares. Customer satisfaction with respect of the five aspects related to the service quality has been evaluated. The results show that all the five aspects did influence the customer satisfaction of the tourists. The level of customer satisfaction of tourists was found to be good. Tourists were found to give more importance for the reliability aspect in resorts.

Keywords


Customer Satisfaction, Tourist Satisfaction, Service Quality, Domestic Tourism, Resort Tourism.

References