Seasonal variation in urban tourist satisfaction

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to detect the differences in satisfaction levels with regard to different elements of the city tourism offering during the season and off-season. Furthermore, the aim is to find out what factors determine the satisfaction of season and off-season tourists. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on the results of a survey conducted during 2016 in Opatija and Rijeka (Croatia). The analyses were conducted on a sample of 1,249 respondents. Data analysis included principal component analyses, ANOVA and series of regression analyses. Findings Results confirmed that there is a significant difference in overall satisfaction, as well as in all five satisfaction dimensions, between tourists visiting the cities during the season and those visiting in the pre- and post-season. In addition, simple regression analyses revealed that tourists staying in those cities during the peak season expressed a statistically significant higher level of satisfaction than those visiting in the pre- and post-season. However, no statistically significant difference was found in overall satisfaction and in four out of five satisfaction dimensions, between pre- and post-season tourists. Practical implications The findings have relevant implications for destination managers in their further decisions aimed at developing a more satisfactory tourism offering in the season and off-season. Originality/value The main contribution of this paper lies in the connection between tourist satisfaction and the season of their visit, as previous studies have rarely considered the season when analysing tourist satisfaction with the destination offering.

Seasonal Variation in Visitor Satisfaction and Its Management Implications in Banff National Park

“…However, with the development of the tourism market, it is insufficient to analyze visitor satisfaction without integrating seasonality. Visitors tend to have a different perception, satisfaction and experience of a national park's natural characteristics, services, facilities and activities in different seasons [2,7]. According to Chen et al [47], some additional variables such as visitors' personality, travel motivations and previous travel experiences also influence visitor overall satisfaction.…”

“…Tourism seasonality and its associated social, economic and environmental impacts are generally perceived to produce negative effects on tourism destinations. It can be a major problem faced by national parks and needs to be tackled at the operational and marketing level [2,3,[7][8][9].…”

“…For a national park to reduce the negative impacts of seasonality and achieve sustainable tourism, park managers need to evaluate visitor experiences at all times of the year [7,28]. However, past research is limited in two ways.…”

“…First, although many studies have been done to investigate visitor satisfaction with tourism destinations, particularly during the high season(s), fewer studies examine visitor satisfaction during the off-season [29]. Second, there has been little research examining the impacts of the offseason on visitor satisfaction in order to bridge the knowledge gap between tourism seasonality and visitor satisfaction [7,30]. According to Baum and Lundtorp [31], the problem of understanding seasonality in tourism is related to the lack of deep and longitudinal studies.…”

Modeliranje utjecaja ugleda turističke destinacije prisutnog u društvenim medijima na zadovoljstvo turista

“…Mnogo se pozornost pridavalo istraživanju zadovoljstvu turista u uslužnim djelatnostima kao jednom od glavnih ciljeva poslovanja koji utječe na: odabir destinacije, potrošnju turističkih proizvoda i usluga, na odluku o ponovnoj posjeti destinaciji, ali i na uspješnost poslovanja na konkurentnom tržištu (Kozak, Rimmington, 2000). Istraživanja zadovoljstva turista usredotočena su na različite proizvode i usluge, kao što su usluge smještaja (Ammissah, 2013;Udit, Kalyan, 2017), restorana (Chadee, Mattsson, 1996), turističkih atrakcija (Agyeiwaah et al, 2016;Jensen et al, 2017), turističkih tura (Lee, 2015), ali i na zadovoljstvo turističkom destinacijom (Alegre, Cladera, 2006;Kozak, 2001;Yu, Goulden, 2006;Puh, 2014;Soldić Frleta, Smolčić Jurdana, 2018). Koncept zadovoljstvo turista određuju prethodnice i posljedice zadovoljstva turista.…”