An Empirical Study on the Tourist Cognitive Evaluations of Tourism Public Services in Xinjiang Province, China

Abstract

In the post-pandemic era, there has been a noticeable increase in tourism demand in China, and the comprehensive driving role of tourism in the national economy and social development has become more pronounced. Tourism public service providers, which are led by the government, urgently need to consider methods for enhancing the efficacy of public services in tourism to meet tourist demands, methods for further attracting more visitors, and methods for achieving sustainable and high-quality development in the tourism industry. However, despite the continuous enrichment and enhancement of the content and quality of tourism public services by Chinese government departments, the current research on government-provided tourism public services in underdeveloped areas is still relatively scarce in terms of tourists’ cognitive evaluations. Therefore, this study focuses on five 5A-rated scenic areas in Xinjiang, where 1122 valid questionnaires were distributed. In using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, we established an evaluation system for Xinjiang’s tourism public services. Paired sample t-tests and importance–performance analyses (IPA) were employed to assess the importance and satisfaction of the aforementioned indicators. The results showed the following: (1) The tourism public service quality scale comprised 47 measurement items across four dimensions and exhibited high reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. (2) The average satisfaction score across the 47 indicators was 3.90, thus indicating a favorable assessment of Xinjiang’s tourism public services by visitors. In addition, the highest satisfaction noted was in well-established safety assurance mechanisms (4.46), and the lowest was recorded in facial recognition entry systems (3.35). (3) The IPA results suggest that aspects such as comprehensive traffic guidance signage, affordability of transportation, and convenience of access are factors that require maintenance. Clear safety guidelines and warning systems, truthful promotion, and emphasis on protecting tourist rights are in the potential advantage area. The promotion of paid leave policies requires moderate attention, while intelligent parking lots, electronic all-in-one cards for scenic areas, and one-click rescue indicators necessitate improvement. These research findings have significant practical implications for the construction of public services in Xinjiang’s tourism.