Mehdi Haghighi Kafash; Hamed Bagheri
Abstract
The chief goal of hotels is to satisfy and retain their customers.Previous researches have shown that contented hotel guests are morelikely to revisit a hotel than guests who were somehow dissatisfied.This study attempts to scrutinize the relationship between servicequality perceptions and customer loyalty ...
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The chief goal of hotels is to satisfy and retain their customers.Previous researches have shown that contented hotel guests are morelikely to revisit a hotel than guests who were somehow dissatisfied.This study attempts to scrutinize the relationship between servicequality perceptions and customer loyalty in the hotels located in thecity of Shiraz. The other specific purposes of this study are thefollowing: 1) to investigate the perceived service quality and customerloyalty in hotels of Shiraz, 2) to scrutinize relations between servicequality and customer loyalty dimensions, and 3) to providesuggestions to improve service quality and customer loyalty in thefour-star hotels of Shiraz. In this research, perceived service qualitywas measured through five dimensions of SERVQUAL (tangibles,reliability, assurance, responsiveness, and empathy) developed byParasuraman et al. (1988). Also, customer loyalty was measured bythe questionnaire developed by Skogland and Siguaw (2004).Afterwards, 196 questionnaires were collected and analyzed usingKolmogorov- Smirnov (K-S) test, Spearman correlation coefficient,and Binomial Test. Results demonstrated a strong correlation betweenservice quality perceptions and customer’s loyalty. Furthermore,among the 5 dimensions of Servqual (tangibles, reliability, assurance,responsiveness, and empathy), the tangibles dimension showed theleast correlation with customer loyalty, emphasizing more importanceon human elements of service quality.
Zohreh Fanni; Mojtaba Barghamadi; Majid Eskandarpour; Mansour Soleimani
Abstract
Climatic and geographical features of Gorgan (e.g. lying in thevicinity of North - and Razavi-khorasan, Semnan, Tehran, andMazandaran provinces) on the one hand and its cultural and historicalattractions (e.g. Existence of Turkman people and their handicrafts) onthe other, have rendered this city into ...
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Climatic and geographical features of Gorgan (e.g. lying in thevicinity of North - and Razavi-khorasan, Semnan, Tehran, andMazandaran provinces) on the one hand and its cultural and historicalattractions (e.g. Existence of Turkman people and their handicrafts) onthe other, have rendered this city into a prominent tourist spot. Thisresearch, aims to evaluate the Gorgan - tourists’ satisfaction level andthe principal factors affecting it. After distribution of 250questionnaires, data were analyzed through descriptive and analyticalstatistics methods. Results indicate that four factors including servicequality, environmental quality, host behavior quality, and servicescost, can explain more than %54 of the variance of the variables. Also,a significant correlation is observed between the mentioned factorsand the tourists’ satisfaction level. At the end, some suggestions areproposed for improving tourists’ satisfaction and tourism developmentin Gorgan.
Aidin Tajzadeh-Namin; Abolfazl Tajzadeh-Namin; kambiz niknam
Abstract
Nowadays, sport tourism has greatly expanded to include a wide range ofactivities, based on which, by arranging facilities and considering themarketing approaches, this type of tourism can be developed in Iran andin the Ardabil province particularly. Despite the importance of sporttourism, yet no serious ...
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Nowadays, sport tourism has greatly expanded to include a wide range ofactivities, based on which, by arranging facilities and considering themarketing approaches, this type of tourism can be developed in Iran andin the Ardabil province particularly. Despite the importance of sporttourism, yet no serious study has taken place in this respect in thementioned province or in Iran at all. Since sport tourism is a new conceptin Iran’s tourism industry and Ardabil province, so the important issue ishow to utilize these opportunities and capabilities in a right manner fromthe marketing perspective. In line of what was said above, in thisopportunity, it is attempted to review the sport tourism, and in themeanwhile, to investigate the perspective of domestic sport tourists aboutsport tourism marketing mix, and to develop an appropriate patternaccordingly. This is a descriptive – survey study, from the researchmethod perspective. Data are gathered through secondary and primarysources. The target population of the study are the domestic tourists whohave travelled to Ardebil, Meshkin Shahr and Sar' e Ein cities, which arethe major sport tourism centers of Ardebil province. Therefore, aquestionnaire was designed based on the personal and behavioralcharacteristics of the tourists and the 8 P’s of sport tourism marketingmix; afterwards, the questionnaires were distributed among 110 sporttourists by means of accidental sampling method. Appropriate analysiswere made for each of the marketing mix components by utilizingdifferent statistical tests namely, Kolmogrov - Smirnov, Binomialdistribution, one sample T- test and Friedman test. In general, results ofFriedman test shows that there were weaknesses regarding to thecomponents of “productivity and quality”, “process” and “place andtime” according to priority. Also based on the findings of research amathematical pattern was developed.
Edris Babakhanzadeh; Sedigheh Lotfi
Abstract
Rural tourism is one of the growing sectors in tourism industry thatcan play an important role in creating jobs, revitalizing rural life andpreserving various historical heritages of rural areas, and ultimatelyshaping an integrated and sustainable development. This paper aims toinvestigate the different ...
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Rural tourism is one of the growing sectors in tourism industry thatcan play an important role in creating jobs, revitalizing rural life andpreserving various historical heritages of rural areas, and ultimatelyshaping an integrated and sustainable development. This paper aims toinvestigate the different socio-economic and environmental impact oftourism on the village of Qouri Qaleh in the province of Kermanshah.This place attracts thousands of tourists annually due to its uniquenatural and historical heritages. The research is based on descriptive –analytical methods. A field work was conducted to collect the requireddata with the help of 150 questionnaires which were distributedamong residents of the village, using random sampling. Data wereanalyzed via SPSS. Results revealed a positive opinion of the ruralresidents about the economic impacts of tourism such as employmentopportunities and increase in people’s income. However, tourismdevelopment has led to land speculation and a rapid land-use changeat the cost of agricultural decline. Also, degradation of environmentby water pollution and overuse of rural natural resources, have creatednew challenges for tourism development in this village. From socialpoint of view there has been a considerable decline in rural urbanmigration, increase in people’s knowledge and improvement of ruralhousing. At the end, the paper presents some recommendations fortourism management and balanced development with respect to thecarrying capacity of the area.
Mohammad Taghi Taghavifard; Abbass Saghaei; Aliakbar Daneshmand
Abstract
Decision making about selecting quality-based programs is a sensitiveproblem in the firms looking for effectiveness and profitabilityadvantages. The aim of this paper is to utilize Simple AdditiveWeighting (SAW) method to deal with prioritizing quality-basedinvestments in service firms under fuzzy environment. ...
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Decision making about selecting quality-based programs is a sensitiveproblem in the firms looking for effectiveness and profitabilityadvantages. The aim of this paper is to utilize Simple AdditiveWeighting (SAW) method to deal with prioritizing quality-basedinvestments in service firms under fuzzy environment. For thispurpose, at first, alternatives (types of investment) will be identified.Then, exogenous preferences are identified according to thecompetitive environment and endogenous preferences are determinedusing the Five-Gaps Model of service quality and gaps analysis.Finally, between different types of investment, the best option isrecommended. Also, a real case – a travel agency – is studied todemonstrate the proposed method. The results indicate that the Five-Gaps Analysis model combined with multiple criteria decision making(MCDM) and fuzzy set theory have high ability in evaluation ofquality-based programs in service firms.
Azim Zarei; Fatemeh Ghorbani; Mino Pedramnia
Abstract
The perception of visitors' behavioral intentions is of great importancefor destination managers and marketers. The present study is about tostudy the effective factors on visitors behavioral intentions in touristdestinations,which examines the effect of destinationattributes ,perceived quality of destination ...
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The perception of visitors' behavioral intentions is of great importancefor destination managers and marketers. The present study is about tostudy the effective factors on visitors behavioral intentions in touristdestinations,which examines the effect of destinationattributes ,perceived quality of destination offerings, perceived valueand satisfaction on behavioral intentions. The sample of the currentstudy considersall the visitors of Torghabe tourist destination inMashhad city in the summer of 2011 and chooses 494 visitorsrandomly. The research questionnaire was developed by theresearcher after confirming the validity and reliability of data and thenfollowed by their distribution; finally data collection was donethrough structural equation modeling and analyzed in LIZRELsoftware.the results shows destination attributes have direct positiveeffect on perceived quality of destination offerings; and on the otherhand, perceived value and satisfaction are under direct effect ofperceived value. Furthermore, the positive direct effect of perceivedvalue and satisfaction on behavioral intentions was confirmed. Theresults also indicated that visitors perceived value of destinationofferings has an indirect effect on behavioral intentions throughmediating variables of satisfaction and perceived value.
Hamideh Khaksar Astaneh; Vahid Kalate Arabi; Ali Sardar Shahraki
Abstract
In this study, willingness to pay (WTP) of the visitors of "shahresukhte" has been determined with the use of conditional valuationmethod (CVM) and dichotomous choice questionnaire. Willingness topay is calculated with Logit model, and the parameters of the modelare estimated by maximum likelihood method. ...
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In this study, willingness to pay (WTP) of the visitors of "shahresukhte" has been determined with the use of conditional valuationmethod (CVM) and dichotomous choice questionnaire. Willingness topay is calculated with Logit model, and the parameters of the modelare estimated by maximum likelihood method. Results revealed that58% of the research sample were willing to pay for their visit to"shahre sukhte". The average willingness to pay for each visit to theplace equaled to 6563 Rials and the total recreational value wasestimated to be more than 1292 Million Rials per year. Additionally, itwas indicated that variables of age, income, Antiquities-relatedoccupations or fields of study, and the perceived importance ofprotection of historical collections, had significant effects onwillingness to pay. The influencing factors on willingness to pay wererelated to the importance of historical collections protection,occupation or field of study associated with the Antiquities, familysize, age and income, respectively.
