A measure of tourist experience quality: the case of inland tourism in Malaga

Abstract

Although Malaga is a major tourist destination, research focused on the coastal area.However, the interior of the province has a growing tourism industry, so this tourism industry needs to be studied. The goal of this study was to analyse the attractiveness of this destination through the perceived quality of tourists' experiences, measuring the effect of each agent involved in tourists' overall assessment of the destination.Using a two-step factorial analysis of data gathered with 660 valid questionnaires collected through an on-the-ground survey, the composition structure and relationships of satisfaction factors in the destination were identified. Subsequently, the relationships between each agent with tourists' overall assessment of the destination were extracted. The results suggest that tourism businesses are primarily responsible for the final quality of this destination, followed by organisations responsible of the management of tourism resources. Further, the results also show that there is room for improvement in quality. The worst ratings were given for the quality of leisure facilities and restaurants, while the aspects most valued by users have a low capacity for differentiation (i.e. climate, courtesy and value for money). Therefore, this tourist destination would benefit from implementing a system of integrated quality management.

Examining antecedents and consequences of perceived service quality in the hotel industry: a comparison between London and New York

“…On the same line, Gustafsson et al (2005) argued that companies should focus on several issues to develop a good service quality, such as maintaining an effective response and leveraging on reliability and generating "tangibility". All these factors enhance the quality of services that is worth retaining old and new customers, especially in the tourism sector (Soler and Gemar, 2019). In addition, Ennew et al (2015), highlighted that the variable of perceived service quality includes customer satisfaction, customer retention, brand image, consumer behaviour and brand loyalty.…”

Factors Associated with Spa Tourists’ Satisfaction

“…A careful analysis of the results shown in the above tables revealed that satisfaction levels are high in all dimensions, that is, above the scale's central value of four, so the study population includes no dissatisfied users but rather more or less satisfied spa tourists which may mean that the quality of spa destinations in Andalusia is high, as argued by the literature that has studied the relationship between service quality and tourist destinations [18,36,37,39,40].…”

“…The literature connecting tourist satisfaction and quality of service in tourism destinations is extensive [36][37][38][39]. For instance, customers can be satisfied with some services and not with others [40].…”

Factors that affect the perception of a tourist resource’s value: the case of the Caminito del Rey

“…These measures aim to assess the quality of the destinations perceived by the client, due to the existing association between customer satisfaction and perceived quality constructs, which are occasionally used interchangeably (Iacobucci, Ostrom, & Grayson, 1995), although the general view is that satisfaction is dependent on perceived quality, which is a more inclusive construct (Chen & Chen, 2010;Chen & Tsai, 2007;Soutar, 2001). This is intended to provide useful information with which to improve the management and planning on which this new stage is based, in order to develop a combination of tourism resources that improve the competitiveness and the perceived quality of the destination, understanding the final perceived quality of destination as the weighted sum of the perceived qualities of the agents involved (Soler & Gemar, 2017). Some authors identify the management of tourist resources as the main engine of the tourist destination (e.g.…”

“…Ellerbrock & Hite, 1980;Yang, Lin, & Han, 2010). Soler and Gemar (2017), on the other hand, identify the tourist companies in the interior of the province of Malaga as the most influential element in the perceived final quality, and placing tourism resource management second position. Yang and Fik (2014) identify tourism resources as one of the determining factors in local tourism growth.…”