After giving an overview of latest benchmark approaches in tourism, an already existing Benchmarking Indicator System implemented by the Austrian Government in 1987 is discussed. This article first critically assesses the neglect of relevant elements covering the production and delivery process of tourism services in this approach. Hence, the existing benchmarking approach is extended conceptually by linking it to tourists’ satisfaction measures. There is growing evidence that tourism service quality attributes can fall into three different categories of factors that display a differing impact on tourist satisfaction. The literature distinguishes between two different approaches for best identifying these factors: Vavra’s two-dimensional Importance Grid, which is based on customers’ self-stated importance and derived importance assessments, and Brandt’s Penalty-Reward-Contrast analysis, which is based on the performance-only approach and thus only uses one (e.g., the satisfaction) variable. This article tests both approaches empirically using different sets of variables from a recent destination benchmarking survey.

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This article develops a comprehensive cultural construct to explain and forecast tourists' behaviour and quality judgements. A destination value chain is depicted to capture the possible influence of culture and cultural values on tourism behaviour. Cultural norms have an impact on both tourists' expectations and their perceptions of received service quality for any of the six service elements frequently employed in tourism analyses. Tourism service encounters take place in the context of a tourism culture which is formed by four components: the national/regional settings of the tourist and the host region, the tourists' various subcultures and the organisational culture of tourism enterprises in the tourism receiving region. A differentiated approach is developed which distinguishes between global, national and sub-national cultural constructs.

The paper presents important measurement approaches in the field of costumer satisfaction with services and applies those empirically for service bundles at the level of the tourism destination. After working out the most prominent characteristics of existing satisfaction concepts according to the American and the Scandinavian school of thought, the latter will be critically evaluated for its potential practical use in measuring guest satisfaction. Based on this preparatory work, the Importance‐Performance Analysis, the Implicit Importance Analysis and the Penalty‐Reward‐Contrast Analysis are implemented and show that differing satisfaction models will lead to varying results and hence, ambiguous implications for destination management. However, due to its model parsimony and methodical stringency the Penalty‐Reward‐Contrast Analysis will be retained as the most valuable instrument for measuring tourist satisfaction. The paper concludes with implications for the management of destinations and a brief outlook for further research.

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