A review of approaches measuring tourist satisfaction

Abstract

Satisfaction has been the central research area in consumer behaviour. Particularly in tourism, satisfying tourists promises the success of destinations. Tourists are now seeking for premier experiences at destinations which requires more distinctive tourism products and excellent service quality. Monitoring tourist satisfaction has become more crucial than ever so as for destination managers and stakeholders to plan appropriate strategic development. The study clarifies the concept of visitor satisfaction and how satisfaction is measured in academic practice. This article review, synthesis, and analysis secondary data from previous academic studies. The article begins by providing satisfaction definition, followed by the benefits of achieving customer satisfaction, and finally, the commonly adopted approaches to measure tourist satisfaction is provided. The study focuses on those approaches proposed before the development of internet which data collection process is mainly based on survey. Both merits and demerits of each approach are also discussed.