Travel Satisfaction Research Articles

A comparative analysis of determinants, characteristics, and experiences of four daily trip types

The positive utility of travel (unrelated to the destination) and travel satisfaction have been discussed in travel literature, but a research gap exists in comparing if and how travel benefits might differ among commuting, shopping, leisure, and undirected trips (those without a destination, undertaken for the purpose of the trip itself). By specifying the varying benefits of each trip type (or determining whether there is a variation), the positive utility of travel can be better understood, potentially identifying strategies for improving travel satisfaction and, in turn, subjective well-being. This paper considers these four trip types (commuting, shopping, leisure, and undirected) by evaluating differences in beneficial aspects of travel (improving physical health, improving mental well-being, enjoying scenery, and social contact), travel satisfaction, and characteristics (mode, distance, duration, frequency) among 1122 daily travel trips using survey data (n = 332) from Flanders, Belgium. Results indicate that, 1. though taken least often, undirected trips are the most important to physical activity, 2. undirected and leisure trips are most associated with positive utility of travel, and 3. trips to a leisure destination are the most satisfying. This investigation offers information regarding how experienced utility might differ when considering the context of the destination, and how satisfaction with different trips might relate to overall well-being.

Investigating how girlfriend getaway travel experiences influence female travellers to come back

ABSTRACT This study aims to determine Girlfriend Getaway (GGA) travel experiences and their effects on travel satisfaction and revisit intention. It derives five dimensions of the GGA travel experience (happiness, escapism, personal enrichment, leisureliness, and sense of connection) from the literature. The results of 278 female travellers in Macao indicate that all dimensions significantly affect satisfaction, whereas happiness, leisureliness, and sense of connection significantly affect revisit intention. Happiness has the greatest effect on the revisit intention, while sense of connection has the greatest effect on satisfaction. This study contributes to GGA research by determining the dimensions of the GGA travel experience.

Attitude and accessibility on transit users’ travel satisfaction: A person-environment fit perspective

Transit users’ travel satisfaction is important for assessing the performance of transit-oriented development. Existing studies emphasize the role of service attributes, built environment, and travel attitudes in predicting transit users’ travel satisfaction. However, few studies have jointly examined the effects of environment and attitudes based on sophisticated theoretical foundations. This paper aims to narrow this gap by examining the interaction effects of transit accessibility and attitudes towards transit on transit users' travel satisfaction from a person-environment fit perspective. The data is from a household survey conducted in Shanghai in 2018. Using polynomial regression analysis with response surface methodology , the study finds that interaction effects significantly influence the affective component of travel satisfaction, but not the cognitive component. Public transit users’ travel satisfaction increases with the congruence between attitude and accessibility. Dissonance is not necessarily a bad situation and may improve travel satisfaction when there is an increase in either factor.

Travel satisfaction and travel well-being: Which is more related to travel choice behaviour in the post COVID-19 pandemic? Evidence from public transport travellers in Xi'an, China.

The spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has decreased the willingness to choose public transport where travellers are more likely to be infected due to intensive passenger flow, in which case it is hard to attract passenger volume if the subjective well-being of travellers is not improved. However, the traditional measurement of travel evaluation may be not conductive to the context under the influence COVID-19 pandemic and it is necessary to analyse the changes of internal mechanisms of travel well-being to avoid the loss of passengers. Based on structural equation modelling, this paper explored the internal relationship between the constructs of travel well-being and emphasised the significance of taking psychological factors into consideration in the post COVID-19 pandemic. The results show that travel satisfaction towards epidemic prevention measures during travel is strongly related to overall travel well-being, which can be used as a key part of well-being measurement scale design in the future. The results also indicate that, due to negative mood on affective level induced by COVID-19, travel satisfaction on cognitive level is not directly but indirectly related to travel choice behaviour through overall travel well-being. Compared to travel satisfaction, travel well-being is more extensive and covers travel satisfaction to some extent. Therefore, instead of studying travel satisfaction simply, taking travel well-being incorporating travel satisfaction, mood and psychological distance as the dependent variable to identify shortages existing in public transport will provide a more accurate perspective for policy makers in the post COVID-19 pandemic.

Service Supply and Customer Satisfaction in Public Transportation: The Quality Paradox

Satisfaction measures obtained from citizens are frequently used in performance-based contracts due to their presumed link with company performance. However, few studies have actually examined the link between traveler satisfaction measures and objective performance measures in public transport. This research analyzes the relationship between the objective performance measures of public transport services and the satisfaction perceived by travelers. Data were collected in six different European cities. Three objective service performance measures were obtained for each city from the UITP Millennium Database. Three subjective satisfaction attribute measures were obtained from Benchmarking in European Service of Public Transport (BEST 2001), answered by 6,021 respondents in total. In addition to subjective attribute measures, overall satisfaction was also used as a subjective measure. Several correlational analyses show that the relationship between satisfaction and service performance in public transport is far from perfect.

How will multifaceted trust impact domestic travel during the COVID-19 pandemic and subjective well-being? A comparison between Korea and the US

This study examines the impact of extended tourist trust constructs on domestic travel experiences, subjective well-being, and future travel intention in the pandemic. Data was obtained through a survey conducted on 1181 Korean and American domestic tourists. The results show that policy trust and destination trust have positive effects on travel frequency and satisfaction. Moreover, interactional trust positively impacted travel satisfaction. While both travel frequency and travel satisfaction have positive impacts on subjective well-being of travelers, travel satisfaction has a stronger impact on subjective well-being than travel frequency. However, certain relationships were influenced by national backgrounds (U·S vs. Korea).

A study of how LGBTQ tourists’ perceptions of residents’ feelings about them affect their revisit intentions: an emotional solidarity perspective

This study examined how LGBTQ tourists’ perceptions of residents’ feelings about them affect their travel satisfaction and intention to revisit a destination. This study applied the theory of emotional solidarity to measure Chinese LGBTQ tourists’ perceptions of Vietnamese residents in their welcoming nature, emotional closeness, and sympathetic understanding of the LGBTQ community. A survey of 217 Chinese LGBTQ tourists in Vietnam was conducted and the results showed that sympathetic understanding was the major source of travel satisfaction. However, emotional closeness influenced LGBTQ tourists’ revisit intention more. In addition, extraversion positively moderated the effect of welcoming nature on travel satisfaction and revisit intention. Comparing the results of this study with previous studies showed that the feelings of emotional solidarity driving LGBTQ tourists and non-LGBTQ tourists to revisit a destination are different. LGBTQ tourists are looking for local people to move closer to them, not just welcome them. This study contributes to LGBTQ tourism research by assessing social factors in terms of emotional solidarity that influence LGBTQ tourists’ attitudes and behaviours. It widens the scope of the theory of emotional solidarity and enriches our knowledge of LGBTQ tourism in Asia.

DOES THE TOURIST’S PROFILE MATTER? PERCEPTIONS AND OPINIONS ABOUT THE FIESTA DE LOS PATIOS IN CORDOBA, SPAIN

This research aims to determine the differences and similarities in perceptions, experiences, satisfaction, and behaviour intention of travellers who engage with, and appreciate Intangible Cultural Heritage, according to the sociodemographic profile of these travellers. Literature concerning Intangible Cultural Heritage tourists’ profile is still scarce, being important for World Heritage Site destinations or places with Intangible Cultural Heritage recognition to identify the tourists attracted by culture and heritage. Thus, the work presented intend to cover the gap identified in this sense, taking as reference the results obtained from fieldwork consisting of a structured questionnaire which was administered to a representative sample of tourists who participated in the Fiesta de los Patios event in Cordoba (Spain), which is recognised as Intangible Cultural Heritage asset. Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests are used to compare groups of the sample according to the sociodemographic profile of the tourists, revealing statistical differences among these groups. The results enable us to analyse the post-COVID tourist, and determine to what extent they are satisfied with the new worldwide situation. This research could be useful both to public agents of tourism promotion and private businesses, whose target audience are tourists attending this type of event. The research unpacks the profile of the visitor, relating their gender, age, educational level, and income to their experiences, perceptions, satisfaction, and behaviour intention. This enables the tourist offer to be adapted, making it more attractive to the potential client.

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TOURIST DESTINATION CITY IMAGE PERCEPTION AND TOURIST SATISFACTION (THE CASE OF LANGZHONG, CHINA)

This study firstly collects relevant data and materials through questionnaire survey, studies the influence of tourists' cognitive image and emotional image on travel satisfaction, from cognition to emotion to behavioral intention, and constructs a more reasonable "cognition-emotion-satisfaction" evaluation model.Through empirical tests, the following conclusions are drawn: there is a positive correlation between cognitive image and tourist satisfaction;There is a positive correlation between positive emotional image and tourist satisfaction.There is a negative correlation between negative emotional image and tourist satisfaction.

Effect of travel satisfaction and heterogeneity of activity-travel patterns of other persons in the household on social and mental health: The case of Bandung Metropolitan area

Travel satisfaction (TS) is used in this study as a proxy for subjective well-being in the travel domain, which is hypothesised to mediate the relationship between the activity–travel pattern and health variables. Moreover, multilevel modelling with instrumental variables is used, so that the heterogeneity of other household members’ activity–travel patterns can be included. Considering the heterogeneity effects of other household members, this study shows that TS has a positive correlation with both social health (SH) and mental health (MH). The model shows that those who stay at home and work or study longer tend to have a high TS, and in turn high SH and MH. It can be understood that people who have longer time commitments to obligatory activities appreciate their trips more because they are observed to have the lowest MH conditions. Longer times spent on studying and working and in-home activities are indicated to limit people’s participation with other household members, which in turn correlates with low MH. Any efforts to undertake more travel for those who have more commitments at home and in the workplace can result in better TS and in turn SH and MH. This study confirms that more regular daily activity–travel patterns with regular breaks from obligatory activities are observed to correspond to better MH. More regular daily activity–travel patterns of other household members can make individuals organise their own more regular activity–travel patterns, which correlates with better SH and MH.

Effects of a Public Real-Time Multi-Modal Transportation Information Display on Travel Behavior and Attitudes

This study reports on an experiment in downtown Seattle, Washington, to evaluate whether installing a public real-time multi-modal transportation information display screen in an office building lobby caused changes in building occupant self-reported awareness, attitudes, satisfaction, and usage of alternative transportation modes including transit, car-sharing, ride-sourcing, and bike-sharing services. Workers in the test building and two nearby control buildings were surveyed immediately before the screen was installed (N=550) and again six months later (N=455). Little evidence was found that exposure to the real-time display affected respondent travel choices, satisfaction, familiarity, or attitudes toward alternative modes. Although most respondents (70%) had noticed the screen and had generally positive reactions, two-thirds of this group never actually used it. These results, along with building occupant responses to open-ended questions, indicate limited benefits from this installation and suggest that site selection, screen placement, and marketing may help to maximize the effects of these types of displays on traveler satisfaction and mode shifting.

Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process Used to Determine the Significance of the Contributing Factors for Generalized Travel Satisfaction

This study develops the Generalized Satisfaction with Travel Scale covering travelers’ all-round emotional experience and cognitive evaluation. After checking the validity by factor analysis, the key influencing factors are extracted by optimal scale regression, and then the influence degree of key influencing factors is determined based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process. The reliability and validity of the developed Generalized Satisfaction with Travel Scale meet the requirements. The dynamic travel parameters (travel pattern, travel duration, etc.) (βs1 = 0.448) have the most important impact on generalized travel satisfaction, followed by the demographic information (age, occupation, etc.) (βs2 = 0.220) and static travel parameters (travel period, travel purpose, etc.) (βs3 = 0.178), whereas the main travel areas (residential area, work/study area) (βs4 = 0.154) have the weakest influence. This study aims at developing a Generalized Satisfaction with Travel Scale for Chinese travelers and exploring the influencing factors so as to provide an efficient travel experience survey mechanism for relevant departments.

A latent class structural equation model of the relationship between travel satisfaction and overall life satisfaction controlling for satisfaction with other life domains

A latent class structural equation model of the relationship between travel satisfaction and overall life satisfaction controlling for satisfaction with other life domains

The effects of neighbourhood attachment and built environment on walking and life satisfaction: A case study of Shenzhen

As the most sustainable mode of transport, walking enables people to interact with their environment more intimately. Such close interactions can strengthen pedestrians' place attachment and influence their life satisfaction and well-being. However, the bond between people and their meaningful places has been largely overlooked in walking studies. This study explores the effects of the built environment and neighbourhood attachment on the level of satisfaction for three purposes of walking trips and pedestrians' overall life satisfaction. Applying a mixed-methods design, surveys and semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data from pedestrians in Shenzhen on their daily walking activities. Hierarchical regression analysis and qualitative thematic analysis were used to analyse the quantitative and qualitative data respectively. The findings suggested the effects of built environment on walking satisfaction vary among different purposes of walking, and neighbourhood attachment has significant positive effects on individual's walking satisfaction and life satisfaction. The qualitative findings further explained how neighbourhood attachment could modify individual's perceptions on walking environment and shaped their walking and life satisfaction through connecting pedestrians' feelings, memories, and knowledge of the neighbourhood to their walking experiences. This research extends the current debate on the links between the built environment, neighbourhood attachment and travel satisfaction.

Travel satisfaction of delivery electric two-wheeler riders: Evidence from Nanjing, China

Sustainable transport policies aim to promote the well-being of all transport participants. Although the travel satisfaction of ordinary travelers has received extensive attention in previous studies, few have focused on the important bearer groups of the last mile urban logistics, especially with the current influx of delivery electric two-wheeler (DETW) riders on the road. This study aims to quantitatively explore the impact of riding perception, delivery attributes, built environment, and demographic variables on delivery travel satisfaction of DETW riders. Data were collected in Nanjing, China, through a questionnaire survey. The results show that the inclusion of built environment variables has provided additional variance explanation and proved their direct or indirect effect on delivery travel satisfaction. Besides, safety and accessibility, environmental comfort, delivery convenience, policy acceptance, and perceived stress positively affect delivery travel satisfaction, while delivery punishment has a negative effect. Delivery convenience is the most important variable explaining delivery travel satisfaction. Finally, policies at all levels, including individual riders, platforms, consumers, and public administration, are proposed to enhance the DETW riders’ well-being and make the food delivery industry more sustainable and appealing.

Sightseeing spot satisfaction of inbound tourists: comparative analysis of first-time visitors and repeat visitors in Japan

PurposeThis study aims to enhance knowledge on marketing strategies to increase repeat visitors. Furthermore, the authors suggest using appropriate destination information tailored to first-time visitors and repeat visitors as social capital.Design/methodology/approachThis study compares the differences in satisfaction between first-time foreign tourists and those repeat visiting. The authors apply a theoretical framework based on optimal distinctiveness theory (ODT) and consumer knowledge to determine which actions maximize the satisfaction of each group. Then, the relationships among assimilation desire, differentiation desire and satisfaction are quantitatively analyzed.FindingsThe results show the difference in the relationship between assimilation and travel satisfaction for first-time visitors and repeat visitors. First-time visitors are satisfied with popular sightseeing spots with higher assimilation level, whereas repeat visitors are satisfied with moderately unpopular sightseeing spots with lower assimilation level. The results clarify that information reflecting only the popularity of destinations is significantly effective for first-time visitors, but unsuitable for repeat visitors. Therefore, it would be possible to propose to repeat visitors a combination of “moderately differentiated” destinations.Originality/valueThe first contribution is that on the basis of Brewer (1991), the quantitative analysis confirmed that the social identity of an individual changes from assimilation to differentiation with the accumulation of experience until the optimal point is found. The second contribution is that we combined several fields such as ODT (Brewer, 1991), familiarity (Alba and Hutchinson, 1987), trial/repeat behavior (Iyengar et al., 2015) and reference groups (Peter & Olson, 2010). The third contribution is that the authors proposed marketing strategies on the basis of the empirical analysis to increase the number of inbound tourists.

How Does AR Technology Adoption and Involvement Behavior Affect Overseas Residents’ Life Satisfaction?

This study aims to better understand foreign residents’ life satisfaction by exploring residents’ AR technology adoption behavior (a combination of transportation applications’ usefulness and ease of use) and travel involvement. Data were collected from 400 respondents randomly through a questionnaire-based survey. SPSS and AMOS were used to analyze and gather results. This study suggests overall life satisfaction as an operationalized dependent variable to measure a traveler’s sense of satisfaction, a traveler’s involvement, and AR adoption of necessary transportation apps is constructed as an independent variable. The model was proposed to explore the impacts of travel satisfaction on overall life satisfaction. The model focused on the role of traveling involvement when it is considered a first variable to explore the impact of travel satisfaction on the overall quality of life. Furthermore, AR technology adoption behavior is where people use traveling apps before and during traveling to fulfill travel needs, obtain details about locations, and make proper arrangements, as well as other facilities. Two significant roles of transportation apps and travelers’ involvement in travel-satisfaction development and overall life satisfaction were found; variables had a positive effect on travel satisfaction and life satisfaction. The results also revealed that AR mobile travel applications with traveler involvement could help improve individual overseas residents’ travel satisfaction; travel satisfaction provides more feelings of satisfaction with life in South Korea.

Built Environment Impacts on Rural Residents’ Daily Travel Satisfaction

The rapid urbanization in China urges scholars to investigate the impacts of built environment on the level of travel satisfaction of rural residents to improve their quality of life and make planning exercises more human-centric. This study samples six villages out of the 25 top rural areas in Chengdu, Sichuan, China, as the research object and constructs a structural equation model to explore the direct and indirect impacts of the built environment on daily travel satisfaction of rural residents. The research finds that building density (0.609), road density (0.569), the number of accessible markets (0.314), and private car ownership (0.02) have significant positive impacts on travel satisfaction. Public transport (−0.063) has a direct negative impact on travel satisfaction. Consequently, in order to further improve travel satisfaction, construction departments and rural planners should improve the building and road densities of new rural areas and increase the number of accessible markets. The convenience of rural public transport services also needs improvement.

A Longitudinal Study of Destination Image, Tourist Satisfaction, and Revisit Intention

International tourists’ perceptions of the destination’s image, travel satisfaction and revisit intentions are crucial to effective destination marketing and overall destination competitiveness. Tourist destinations often compete through their image in potential tourists’ minds. Therefore, a destination image is central due to its influence on tourists’ decision-making and destination selection. Successful destination marketing depends on the in-depth understanding of the destination image held by tourists. This study investigates the destination image changes of Mongolia for specific periods of time. The research examines the attributes of destination images through a longitudinal comparison of data sets from 2004 to 2019 to determine if any change in destination images existed over time. The research model was developed on the attributes of cognitive and affective images, tourist satisfaction, and revisit intentions. The first set of data was obtained from the 280 international tourists who travelled to Mongolia in 2004. The second set of data was obtained from 310 international tourists who travelled to Mongolia in 2019. The research model was validated using structural equation modelling. Independent sample t-tests were performed using two data sets to examine changes in the destination image over the years. The result shows that there are positive changes in the cognitive and affective image of the destination in a given period of time, which influenced tourist satisfaction and their revisit intentions. The implications of the research findings for the travel intermediaries, destination marketing organizations, and potential future research are also discussed.

Factors associated with commute dissatisfaction and commute time dissonance: A sample selection modeling approach

This study identifies determinants of commute time dissonance between actual and desired commute times and commute satisfaction to clarify the role of commute time dissonance in determining commute satisfaction. We hypothesize that (1) commute time dissonance is not a simple determinants of commute satisfaction, but a complicated measure affected by various factors, and (2) commute time dissonance could be a mediator accounting for the relation between explanatory variables and commute satisfaction. Two specific measures (gap and ratio) of commute time dissonance are newly defined. Due to non-randomly selected cases in our sample (only dissatisfied commuters reported their desired commute time in the survey), we employ a sample selection (SS) modeling approach, incorporating socio-economic traits, travel characteristics, lifestyle, and perceptions on neighborhoods as explanatory variables. The result shows that two parts of the SS model—selection (commute satisfaction) and outcome (commute time dissonance) models—share key variables, including commute characteristics, lifestyle, and perceptions on neighborhood. It implies that commute time dissonance can play a role as a mediator in explaining commute satisfaction; thus, further statistical controls to correctly estimate impacts of determinants on commute satisfaction are required. We believe that our findings and implications are worthwhile to deepen the understanding of travel satisfaction and the role of travel time dissonance in the context of commuting.