Destination Management in Lesvos, Greece. Characteristics, Preferences, Images, Satisfaction, and Overall Experience

Abstract

As the tourism sector is continually evolving, touristic destinations and service providers should give close and thoughtful attention to customers’ satisfaction, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic period. Tourism for Greece represents one of the most valuable pillars of the economy and the impact of the pandemic to the sector and GDP will be significant. In this era, it is evident the importance of the Sustainable Development Goals and effective Destination Management that will take into consideration all aspects of the local communities. Customer satisfaction is crucial to improving strategies that destinations must follow to service quality and satisfaction management strategies. Recent consumer and technological trends make customer satisfaction more important than ever. This paper aims to investigate the characteristics, preferences, images, satisfaction levels, and the overall experience gained by the tourists visiting Lesvos island in the North Aegean Region Greece. Primary research was conducted and the airport of the island during departure in 2019. The useful gathered questionnaires (201) provided helpful information to the island’s DMO related to the visitors’ demographic characteristics, destination perception, awareness and competitiveness, satisfaction and overall experience. The basic research findings were the strong impression of the visitors about the authenticity of the destination. They also believe that prices are excellent and the rate of value for money is high. At the same time, visitors think that the island is not promoted very good and the image/brand of the island is not very clear and well defined. It is the first research conducted to visitors departing from Lesvos island to the authors’ best knowledge. The results and discussion of this study will be useful to the islands’ DMO and the island’s tourism authorities and the North Aegean Region and other similar island destinations, which wish to maximize the benefits of tourism development. Keywords: Destination Management Organization, Destination Image, Branding, Visitor Satisfaction, Experience.