The Importance and Performance of a Destination?s Attributes on Senior Tourists? Satisfaction

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study the senior travellers’ perception on the importance and performance of Penang’s tourism attributes. To do so, the effect of the importance and performance of such attributes on senior tourists’ overall satisfaction was also investigated. The perception was assessed by applying importance-performance analysis, whereas its effects were evaluated using partial least squares - structural equation modelling. A total of 12 attributes were chosen in order to evaluate the travellers’ satisfaction level towards Penang as a tourist destination. The analysis shows that the senior travellers rated ‘accessibility to the destination’, and ‘local transport services’ as the most important attributes, requiring further concentration and improvement. These features ranked as important but achieving a satisfactory level of performance was also discovered. The result of the partial least squares analysis confirmed the effects of both importance and performance of the selected attributes on senior tourists’ overall satisfaction.