Examining the Effects of Perceived Quality, Value, Satisfaction, and Destination Loyalty in Shiogama, Japan

Abstract

This study examines the relationships between perceived quality, value, visitor satisfaction, and loyalty in a new context—Shiogama, Japan—a seaside town with a population of 55,000 residents that is famous for its cultural attractions and attracts over 2 million visitors per annum. Drawing on theories from tourism, marketing, and destination management, we hypothesize that perceived quality of destination attributes, as well perceived value of the experience, will have a direct positive effect on tourist satisfaction. Tourist satisfaction is hypothesized to be a direct driver of loyalty to the destination. The research also examines the extent to which the origin of the domestic tourist moderates the relationships between perceived quality, perceived value, and satisfaction. A research questionnaire was used to collect responses from 436 visitors to Shiogama's tourist attractions in 2015. Perceived quality was operationalized to capture the unique attributes of Shiogama. Results of the exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis found that the perceived quality of Shiogama's attributes, including the city's local restaurants, atmosphere, and souvenirs, have a significant positive effect on visitor satisfaction. Perceived value of the destination, measured through visitors' perceptions of costs and benefit of the travel experience, was also significantly and positively related to satisfaction. Visitor satisfaction was significantly and positively related to destination loyalty, validating previous research on the predictors of destination loyalty. We found that visitors to Shiogama from different regions of Japan engaged in different activities and attractions, highlighting the heterogeneity of Shiogama's inbound domestic market segments. The study presents new insights on the operationalization of perceived quality and the predictors of tourist satisfaction and loyalty toward a destination. The findings are also relevant to industry practitioners and destination managers as they seek to understand the heterogeneous needs and behaviors of their inbound market segments.

Travel intentions of travelers in the COVID-19 context: The moderation of fear of COVID-19

“…Customer satisfaction is usually studied as a unidimensional construct that measures overall satisfaction with the service organization, which is the result of a combined judgment of all interactions with the organization (El-Adly, 2018). Matsuoka et al (2017) find that an increase in travelers' perceived value of a destination increases satisfaction. Lu and Wang (2020) find that, from the travel perspective, an increase in travelers' perceived value increases customer satisfaction to some extent.…”

The Impact of Perceived Value, Destination Service Quality, and Tourist Satisfaction on Destination Loyalty Among International Tourists Visiting Malaysia

“…For example, a study conducted by , Sun et al (2013) and Rajaratnam et al (2014) showed that customers who have positive perception of value for money can cause customer satisfaction. Furthermore, several recent studies (Hallak, Assaker & El-Haddad, 2018;Sato, Gipson, Todd, & Harada, 2018;Matsuoka, Hallak, Murayama, & Akiike, 2017) found that perceived value has a significant impact on tourist satisfaction. In addition, empirical research disclosed that perceived value has positive impact on both future behavioural intentions and behaviours (Chen and Tsai, 2007).…”

The Impact of Destination Service Quality and Destination Environment on Tourist Satisfaction: A Field Study on Jordans Golden Triangle for Tourists Point of View

“…Examples of items used by Matsuoka et al (2017) to measure destination service quality involve "Tourist's perception of cost benefit of travel", "Tourist's perception destination's restaurants", "Tourist's perception destination's atmosphere" and "Tourist's perception of souvenirs". Many studies used SERVQUAL to measure service quality, this scale includes five dimensions: Tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy (Parasuraman et al, 2002;Gustafsson et al, 2005).…”

“….1. Research model Source: Based on Murphy et al (2000), Chen and Tsai (2007), Chen and Chen (2010), Yuksel et al (2010), Song et al (2011), Qu et al (2011), Al-Ababneh (2013), Ramseook-Munhurrun et al (2015), Tsaur et al (2016), Jani and Nguni (2016), Prayogo and Kusumawardhani(2016),Matsuoka et al (2017) ,Sangpikul (2017) andMolina and Ochoa (2018).…”