Relationship between Tourists’ Expectations and Experiences: Empirical Evidences from Visitors to Serengeti National Park in Tanzania

Abstract

In most cases, tourists would visit a place or location because of certain and distinctive attraction features. Tourists’ motive to visit a specific destination is, therefore, closely attached to certain expectations and the two can be said to be inseparable. The aim of this paper is to compare tourists’ expectation before visiting with the actual experience after visiting Serengeti National Park (SENAPA) in Tanzania. Data were collected by use of questionnaire distributed to 390 tourists who visited the Park in August 2016. The findings showed mostly, the tourists visited SENAPA to experience wildlife. There were statistically significant and positive differences between scores on actual experience and expectations before visiting SENAPA. There was also strong positive correlation between expectations and actual experiences. Overall, tourists expected less than what they found after their trip to SENAPA except on the presence of fast internet and Wi-Fi. The paper recommends for deliberate measures by SENAPA management to make relevant and strategic investment aimed at widening the range of tourists’ activities in the Park. They also should provide enough information about attractions present in the Park to the potential tourist through more effective advertisements. Besides, they should improve internet communication in the park.