Journal of Vacation Marketing
Volume 11 Number 4
Tourist satisfaction: A view from a mixed
international guided package tour
David Bowie* and Jui Chi Chang
Received (in revised form): January 2005
Anonymously refereed paper
*Department of Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism Management, Business School, Oxford Brookes
University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1865 483890; Fax: +44 (0)1865 483878; E-mail: decbowie@brookes.ac.uk
David Bowie is a prinicipal lecturer and MSc
programmes director at Oxford Brookes University. His main research interests are branding,
distribution and marketing communication.
Jui Chi Chang (Ricky) has a PhD from Oxford
Brookes University and is now an associate professor in the Tourism Department at Providence
University in Taiwan. His main research interests
are consumer behaviour in the travel industry and
package tour operation and management.
ABSTRACT
KEYWORDS: customer satisfaction, expectation, equity, hedonism, package tour, tour
leader, tour operator
This paper seeks to identify the variables that are
related to customer satisfaction during a guided
package tour service encounter, including the role of
the tour leader and the service performance by
suppliers – itinerary arrangements, auxiliary support and service delivery. Data were gathered
through participant observation during a mixednationality tour of Scandinavian destinations. Expectations, customer on-tour attitude and behaviour and equity were identified as affecting
customer satisfaction during the service encounter.
Additionally, the consumption experience of hedonism and enjoyment (excitement factors) on the
tour had a significant effect on customer satisfaction. Two primary sources of complaints were
identified: first, the tour operator’s itinerary plan-
ning and hotel selection (basic factors), and second,
the tour leader’s competence (performance factor).
The findings indicate that the tour leader is a
significant determinant psychologically, spiritually
and practically in influencing the success of the tour
product. The result contributes to a better knowledge for the tour operator of tourism satisfaction in
the international market for guided package tours.
INTRODUCTION
This study seeks to identify the variables
which are related to customer satisfaction
during an on-tour service encounter. Participant observation research was carried out to
investigate the role of the tour leader and the
service performance of suppliers in terms of
itinerary management. The study develops a
framework linking the role of the tour leader
to the formation of customer satisfaction,
and contributes towards a better knowledge
of tourism satisfaction for tour operators and
travel agencies.
Numerous studies have focused on tourist
satisfaction in tourism destinations.1 This
study concentrates on customer satisfaction
with the service performance of the tour
operator, and other service suppliers, on a
guided package tour. Customer expectation
and satisfaction, past travel experiences (attitude and behaviour), equity, perceptions of
hedonism and enjoyment and product and
service performances are discussed in the
literature review and then evaluated in the
Journal of Vacation Marketing
Vol. 11 No. 4, 2005, pp. 303–322
& SAGE Publications
London, Thousand Oaks, CA,
and New Delhi.
www.sagepublications.com
DOI: 10.1177/1356766705056628
Page 303
Tourist satisfaction
findings. It is also revealed that the attribution of inequity is a crucial issue when considering customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction.
The international tourist market has shifted
from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market.
The result is that clients are more likely to
demand cheaper holidays and have an increased requirement for high standards of
product design.2 The competitiveness of the
marketplace and the increased expectations of
customers have made service providers recognize the importance of customer service
for future repeat and referral business.3 Jones
and Sasser4 consider that the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty is by no means
linear. In non-competitive marketplaces, a
customer who is not satisfied has no alternative but to remain loyal. However, in highly
competitive industries like tourism a highly
satisfied customer has more alternatives and
customer retention rates can be low. Since
the tourism industry is a mature competitive
market, it is more difficult to differentiate the
tourism product significantly, but the key to
differentiation may be service quality.
NATURE OF GUIDED (ESCORTED)
PACKAGE TOURS
The package tour is a complex service product which is synthetic and involves the
Figure 1
assembly of a multitude of components. The
special characteristics of services seasonality,
intangibility, perishability, inseparability,
variability and simultaneous production and
consumption apply to tourism. The package
tour combines ‘hard’ tangible elements with
a high proportion of ‘soft’ intangible service
elements,5 and leads to a highly labourintensive product. The intangible nature of
the package tour makes the tour operator
heavily dependent upon the company’s image and word of mouth for generating repeat
and recommended sales. Levitt6 stated that
the most important thing to know about
intangible products is that customers usually
do not know what they are getting until they
do not get it. However, guided package
tours have become popular for specific market segments and represent a significant tourism market.7
Pre-arranged holiday products are vulnerable in a number of ways. Swarbrooke and
Horner8 suggested that two negative factors
which affect customer satisfaction on vacation are too much stress (see Figure 1), and
insufficient arousal resulting in boredom and
dissatisfaction. There is no guarantee that a
package tour will not experience shortcomings and negative incidents which are out of
the tour operator’s control. Moreover, the
highly labour-intensive nature of a tour product makes the service encounter difficult to
Sources of stress for tourists
Transport
delays
Difficulties
over
money
Unfamiliar
customs
and food
Performance
of service
staff
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Problems
with foreign
languages
Tourist
Failure of
accommodation
service
Personal
safety and
health
Relationships
with fellow
tourists
Bowie and Chang
manage and standardize. The inability to
standardize service actions leads to an unpredictable quality of the service product. Service quality delivery is, therefore, based on a
service-oriented approach in which the quality of front-line staff is essential for the
successful business. In a sense, it might be
argued customers’ satisfaction depends more
upon front-line staff than upon management.
TOUR LEADER
The tour leader manages the group’s passage
over a multi-day tour and has intense contact
with the tour participants. This person may
be an employee of the tour operator, a
professional tour escort hired by the tour
operator or a representative of the organization sponsoring the trip. The term ‘tour
leader’ is also used to describe the tour
manager, tour conductor, tour director or
courier in Europe. Indeed, some tour companies prefer to call their tour leader a ‘tour
guide’ to stress their employee’s sightseeing
commentary skills.9 However, in practice
the role of the tour guide is different from
that of the tour leader. A tour guide is ‘one
who conducts a tour’, or one with ‘a broadbased knowledge of a particular area whose
primary duty is to inform’.10 To avoid confusion, the term ‘tour leader’ will be used in
this paper to indicate the person who actually escorts the tour participants throughout
their journey.
The person conducting a tour needs a
variety of skills and faces many challenges.
The tour leader is a psychologist, diplomat,
flight attendant, entertainer, news reporter,
orator and even translator and miracle
professional.11 To be successful at this job is
not easy. Webster12 noted that keeping the
tour participants happy and making certain
that all services are provided as contracted
are the main responsibilities of the ‘escort’.
She also suggested ‘ten dos and ten don’ts’
for escorting a tour.
To act professionally and demonstrate leadership, Stevens13 warned that a tour leader
should never become personally involved
with a tour member, since this may result in
losing control of the tour. Undoubtedly, the
tour leader is under considerable pressure
during the service encounter. It requires
patience and care to accomplish the task.
Mancini14 offered strategies for managing a
tour group, suggesting that the ‘tour manager’ must be fair; praise a tour group’s behaviour; exceed the client’s expectations; be
firm when facing disruptive behaviour; encourage client ‘adulthood’; exercise leadership; and be flexible.
Many empirical studies15 have demonstrated that the tour leader is a crucial factor
in
achieving
customer
satisfaction.
Grönroos16 stated that it is the guide (tour
leader) who sells the next tour. Mossberg17
studied a charter tour and suggested that a
tour leader’s performance is a key factor in
differentiating a tour operator from its competitors. The tour leader’s performance
within the service encounter not only affects
the company image, customer loyalty and
word-of-mouth communication but can also
be seen as a competitive factor. But customers’ satisfaction with the tour leader’s performance does not necessarily mean that
customers will be satisfied with the tour
operator.18 Mossberg19 also proposed that an
enhanced understanding of what is happening during the service encounter between
the tour leader and the customer is essential.
THE SERVICE ENCOUNTER
Service is a subjective concept and a complicated phenomenon. When selling a tour
product, it usually also means selling intangible services.20 Quality of service is difficult to
control before it is sold or consumed; its
invisible and intangible nature make customers rely on the image of a firm for further
purchases. Grönroos21 states that if an image
is negative, any minor mistake will be considered as greater than it otherwise would
be.
The quality of service is decisive when the
moment of truth is reached. Shostack22 defined the service encounter as ‘a period of
time during which a consumer directly interacts with a service’. The service encounter,
or the moment of truth, occurs when the
customer assesses the service quality and his/
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Tourist satisfaction
her satisfaction with the complex set of
behaviours which have happened between
the customer, the server and the service
company.23 During service delivery, Gabbott
and Hogg24 state that the quality of the
service encounter involves two significant
elements service personnel and the service
setting.
Three characteristics of service personnel
directly affect consumers’ service experience:25 employees’ expertise, employees’
attitude and the demographic background of
the employee. Bitner et al.26 consider that
the contact employees who dissatisfy customers are often undertrained (which is due to
a high turnover rate), suffer from job dissatisfaction or are underpaid with low levels of
motivation.
The service setting refers to the contact
Figure 2
environment. Maslow and Mintz27 suggest
that aesthetically pleasing physical surroundings and physical content can influence people’s mental state – a suggestion that has not
lost resonance over time. Gabbott and
Hogg28 consider that the service encounter
involves five dimensions: time, physical
proximity, participation, engagement and
degree of customization. There are two unfavourable factors for travel service companies during the service encounter. When
service involves multiple-encounter services
and latent-encounter services, it is difficult to
maintain the same level of satisfaction (see
Figure 2). Secondly, Solomon et al.29 state
that people are constantly changing their
perspective of the service experience. People
are social actors; they learn and adapt themselves through a series of social settings. The
The sectors and critical incidents of a guided package tour
Tour leader
Guided package tour
Hotel
Hotel facilities
Service attitude
Location
Restaurant
Food quality
Service attitude
Coach
Driver’s attitude
Seat arrangement
Condition of coaches
Shopping
Shopping opportunities
Amounts spent
Optional tour
Price of an optional tour
Contents of optional tour
Levels of satisfactio n
Tour guide
Service attitude
Interpretation skills
Attraction
Time spent
Levels of enjoyment
Tour operator
Others
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Profession skills
Service attitude
Interactions
Leadership
Interactions
Tipping
Punctuality
Unforeseeable events
Weat her conditions
Bowie and Chang
level of satisfaction tends to be influenced
easily by other people during multipleencounter services in a single transaction.
EXPECTATION VERSUS
SATISFACTION
Expectation is the service that the customer
anticipates. Santos30 stated that expectation
can be seen as a pre-consumption attitude
before the next purchase: it may involve
experience, but need not. Davidow and
Uttal31 proposed that customers’ expectations are formed by many uncontrollable
factors these include previous experience
with other companies and their advertising,
customers’ psychological condition at the
time of service delivery, customer background and values and the image of the
purchased product.
Miller32 constructed expectations in a
hierarchical order and related them to different levels of satisfaction. He proposed the
‘zone of tolerance’ which is considered as an
alternative comparison of standards and disconfirmation models. Miller categorized four
types of expectation comparison standards by
level of desire: the minimum tolerable level
(the lower-level must be), the deserved level
(should be), the expected level (will be) and
the ideal level (the higher-level could be).33
The deserved level stems from what the
consumer thinks is appropriate based on the
cost and time invested and is more likely to
be considered as a realistic expectation. The
expected level of product performance is
based on a customer’s objective calculation
of the probability of performance. It is the
most commonly used standard for comparison in customer dis/satisfaction research.
The ideal level of product performance represents the optimal product performance a
customer ideally would hope for. It may be
based on previous product experiences,
learning from advertisements and word-ofmouth communication.
Zeithaml et al.34 stated that customer service expectations are built on complex
considerations, including their own prepurchase beliefs and other people’s opinions.
They suggested two levels of expectations –
adequate and desired in service quality evaluations. The adequate level is the minimum
level considered acceptable, and is what customers believe it could be. The desired level
is the service the customers wish to receive:
this is a mixture of what customers believe
the level of performance can be and should be
in other words, a mixture of Miller’s ideal
and deserved level of expectations.35 Between the adequate and desired is the ‘zone
of tolerance’, which represents a range of
performance that the consumer considers
acceptable. The ‘zone of tolerance’ is
bounded by ‘the best customers can expect
to get’ versus ‘the worst customers will
accept as barely fulfilling their needs’. It
appears that high expectations can frustrate
satisfaction achievement.
Furthermore, Bluel36 suggested a ‘zone of
uncertainty’ to separate satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Woodruff et al.37 and Heskett
et al.38 proposed a ‘zone of indifference’
regarding perceptions of performance. The
concepts of ‘zone’ focus on customer uncertainty, which represents the position of satisfied (but not completely satisfied) customers
who do not remain loyal to a firm. To
produce an outcome of satisfaction, Pizam
and Milman39 suggested the need to build
modest or below-realistic expectations that
are tolerable and meet customers’ investment
value. Although this appears to be sensible in
theory, in practice it is questionable since
customers may not be motivated by unattractive or below-level promotion efforts in
the first place among highly competitive and
replaceable travel products.
Perhaps several elements relating to expectation internal to the customer and external to the customer need to be taken into
account. Internally, even similarly experienced tourists may have extremely different
expectations due to cultural background.
Externally, Santos40 considered that customers’ expectations are formed when they
plan to go to a destination where they have
never been and so they anticipate something
about which they have no previous experience. It is natural for travellers to dream
about having a good encounter rather than
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Tourist satisfaction
receiving a bad experience. However, from
the supplier’s point of view the resultant
expectations may be unclear and unpractical.
Many theoretical frameworks have been
introduced to measure customer satisfaction
in hospitality and tourism. Oh and Parks41
concluded that of the nine theories which
evaluate satisfaction it is expectancy disconfirmation that is most widely accepted
among them. This theory, proposed by
Oliver,42 suggested ‘positive disconfirmation’
when the perception of the actual received
performance exceeds expectation, and ‘negative disconfirmation’ or a dissatisfaction occurrence when the perceived performance is
worse than expected. However, Yüksel and
Rimmington43 noted that expectancy disconfirmation theory has received theoretical
and operational criticism. Measuring expectations prior to the service experience has its
weaknesses. The expectation may not reflect
reality, and may be based on a lack of
information and unfair comparisons. Consumers’ prediction of performance might also
be rather superficial and vague the customer
may revise his/her expectation based on previous travel experience or on others’
opinions during the service encounter.
Mazursky44 pointed out that the use of brand
expectations has been questioned by researchers. Bowen45 supports Botterill’s46
view, with specific reference to tour
packages, that satisfaction was not achieved
by narrowing the gap between expectation
and performance. Rather, tourists’ satisfaction could be achieved by the adaptation of
the tourists themselves to unpredictable
events.
PERFORMANCE
So, the measurement of customer satisfaction
that compares expectation of performance and
perception of performance during the service
encounter on a tour may not reflect the real
scenario. Swan and Trawick47 and Olshavsky
and Miller48 suggested that performance only
might be the crucial determinant of satisfaction for some items. Whipple and Thach49
believed that customers’ satisfaction should
depend on the performance of suppliers,
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especially for those who are first-time purchasers. Bowen,50 in a study of long-haul
inclusive tours, suggested that six antecedents
independently or in combination affected
consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction performance, expectation, disconfirmation, attribution, emotion and equity. In his
participant observation, he found that the
performance element was considered to have
the greatest influence on tourist satisfaction
and dissatisfaction. Furthermore, the tour
leader and the participants all have a significant influence on the tour performance.
Geva and Goldman51 noted that the intense
contact and constant interaction with participants gives the tour leader a positive advantage compared to a company (tour operator)
that is not at the scene and is unable to
defend itself.
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE AND
ATTITUDE/BEHAVIOUR
Extremely satisfied tourists might have great
expectations of their next purchase. So comparing experienced travellers to those without similar experience, which group expects
more or is more easily satisfied? Empirical
studies show that previous experiences affect
a person’s attitude and expectation towards
the next purchase. Westbrook and Newman52 reported that people with previous
travel experience developed more moderate
expectations than did people without previous travel experience. They also pointed
out that people with extensive travel experiences tended to develop realistic expectations and showed greater satisfaction ratings
than did people without experience. Whipple and Thach53 concluded that ‘experienced
participants gave consistently higher expectation and performance ratings for services. . .
inexperienced travellers, conversely, expected more from the special events concert
and dining’.
Woodruff et al.54 introduced an ‘experience-based model’ which emphasized the
consumers’ experience with an evoked set of
brands as determinants of satisfaction. The
model indicated that consumers’ experience
Bowie and Chang
should be taken into account when evaluating their satisfaction during service encounters. So far, however, there is limited
evidence to indicate that there is a positive
relationship between experience and satisfaction.
Tourist value is associated with the holiday experience at a destination.55 Zeithaml56
defines perceived value as ‘the consumer’s
overall assessment of the utility of a product
based on a perception of what is received
and what is given’. Many researchers believe
that people change their behaviour during a
vacation. Carr57 considers that personal motivations for taking a vacation and tourist
culture have an impact on tourist behaviour.
They become more liberated and less restrained than when staying at home. This
trait of tourist behaviour might be influenced
by the holiday atmosphere,58 but it is believed that personal characteristics in terms of
norms and values also play an important part
in influencing this kind of behaviour.59 It has
been confirmed that equitable treatment
during the process of consumption among
tourists is an important factor.
EQUITY
Equity concepts are known to influence
satisfaction directly.60 Therefore, equitable
treatment during the process of consumption
among consumers needs to be paid more
attention. The judgement of fairness is very
individualistic and diverse because of personal value judgements and cultural background; it involves idiosyncratic tangible and
intangible elements.61 Oliver62 stated that:
‘many equity norms are held as passive
expectation, as in fair play in sports and
gentlemen’s agreements more generally.
Thus, feelings of equity may not be processed unless these norms are violated.’
Francken and Van Raaij63 regarded the attribution of inequality as a significant factor in
determining satisfaction/dissatisfaction. Social equality theory deals with interchange
relationships between individual input (cost)
and output (benefit). Oliver and DeSarbo64
proposed the ‘equity model’ of satisfaction
which suggested that the customer would be
satisfied when the amount of input to outcome ratio is perceived as impartial and fair.
In guided package tours there are many
interactions and so inputs and outcomes between a tour leader and tour members. In
guiding a package tour, Webster65 suggested
that the tour leader should not have favourites and should try to treat every group
member equally.
HEDONISM AND ENJOYMENT
Hunt66 stated that satisfaction is not the
pleasurable expression of a consumption experience but an evaluation of product performance. Consumption emotion during
product usage is distinguishable from satisfaction. Joy, anger and fear are expressions of
emotional experience.67 With the study of
consumption experience in playing video
games, Holbrook et al.68 suggested that it is
quite reasonable to expect that one’s emotional responses to playful consumption in a
game should depend on performance. The
success of the game should reinforce one’s
feeling of pleasure, arousal and dominance.
Unger and Kernan69 considered that the
consumption experience of satisfaction, enjoyment, fun and other hedonic aspects have
been widely accepted as the essence of play
and other leisure activities. Holbrook and
Hirschman70 stated that consumer behaviour
includes hedonic elements of fun, feelings
and fantasies that ought to be examined in
their own right.
Hedonic value is a more subjective and
personal feeling and results in more fun and
playfulness compared with its utilitarian
counterpart.71 The enjoyment perceived
during the travel encounter is of increasing
concern to holidaymakers and can be viewed
as part of the contribution towards the satisfaction with a complete consumption experience. Consciousness of enjoyment itself
is a significant hedonic benefit provided
through shopping activities72 and travel experiences. Babin et al.73 emphasized that
recreational shoppers are likely to expect
high levels of hedonic value. Many aspects of
travel experience, such as gift shopping, cui-
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Tourist satisfaction
sine tasting, viewing scenic beauty and relaxation were perceived as pleasurable by
tourists.
STUDY METHOD
The primary research method involved participant observation. Satisfaction is an emotional response and changes frequently at
multiple levels during service encounters
throughout a package tour (see Figure 2).
The complexity of the service in a tour
product and the perceptions of customers
toward those services are difficult to unravel
unless the consumption experience is actually observed. For example, observation at
the hotel front desk during and after a tour
group’s check-in can identify significant incidents relating to the problems that customers encounter and the service personnel’s
response. Participant observation can illuminate the details regarding human existence,
which can then be used to examine critically
and further develop hypotheses and theories.
When a phenomenon is imprecise and impenetrable to outsiders, or the research problem is imbued with human meanings and
interactions, the researcher needs to investigate the issue by gaining access to the internal aspects of the phenomenon and
exploring deeper meanings, which can be
discovered by observing the reality.74 The
participant observation approach allows a
researcher to interact with those they study
and minimize the distance between the researcher and those being researched. Gabbott
and Hogg75 suggest that, in reality, it is
difficult to know travellers’ real needs or
travel motives indeed, travellers may not be
aware of their motives (the ‘hidden’ motive),
or they may not tell the truth. Veal76 confirmed that participant observation provides
an insight into the real world and uncovers
the complexity of social settings. It is a key
method to research particular phenomena
and is commonly used in leisure and tourism
elements.
Participant observation has been utilized
in guided tours in a range of different contexts.77 In a study of the relationships between client expectations and satisfaction in
Page 310
river-rafting trips, Arnould and Price78 found
that participant observation data enrich the
interpretation of qualitative results. Ryan79
stated that in the area of tourism research,
direct interaction with respondents by the
researcher playing a real part rather than
simply acting as a detached observer also
generates rich and significant data. Seaton80
carried out an exploratory study of a guided
tour party, which involved a three-day tour
of European First World War battlefields,
using the participant observation technique;
his findings confirmed the use and benefits
of participant and unobtrusive observation in
tourism satisfaction research. Seaton81 suggests that the method of observation in a
closed-field tourism event offers real opportunities in research. He also stated that many
researchers support the view that participant
observation is a valid research methodology
for conducting tourism research; in another
study, Bowen82 confirmed that participant
observation makes a significant contribution
to understanding tour operation management.
The guided package tour
The researcher, using a combination of convenience and purposive selection methods,
chose a guided package tour to Scandinavia
because of the destination’s image as a remote and exotic holiday; most participants
later described it as a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’
experience. The tour operator was selected
because it was a major international company with extensive distribution channels.
Participants booked the tour from a wide
variety of different countries. The nationalities included Americans, Australians,
Britons, Koreans, Kuwaitis and Singaporeans. The product was a mid-market, midprice tour visiting three countries Denmark,
Norway and Sweden over a period of 12
days in the month of July, starting in Copenhagen.
The tour comprised two groups (A and B)
who stayed in the same hotels and had
mostly the same itinerary. The researcher
joined Group B, which had 43 participants
(13 couples, eight solos and two families
Bowie and Chang
totalling nine people). There were 24
females and 19 males (including the researcher). While most of the couple participants were aged between 40 and 60, the solo
participants, most of whom were female,
tended to be younger but over 30. Both the
couples and solo participants had considerable prior travel experience. Many of the
participants had used the tour operator before. The tour leader for Group B was a 26year-old Dutch female with only a few
months’ work experience in the travel industry. Group A had a very experienced
male tour leader. Along with the two tour
leaders, three tourist guides were arranged
for local interpretation in different destinations for both groups.
Gathering data
The participant observation started at Copenhagen airport on the first day and ended
there on the last day. Observations were
conducted throughout the entire tour experience. A male Chinese researcher carried
out the participant observation; most conversations and observations took place during breakfast, dinner, free leisure time and
on a coach. The setting of a coach interior
provides a strong physical and psychological
directive for interaction,83 and this physical
proximity encourages interaction. The researcher was able to interact with different
tour members on the coach, although the
inflexibility of the seating arrangements did
create some constraints. There was no difficulty for the researcher in approaching solos
and family members, but some of the couples
tended to sit alone and walk together – this
restricted the researcher from having conversations with them. On the second day of the
tour the tour leader introduced each group
member and their nationality, which helped
the tour members become acquainted with
each other. Most group members seemed
interested in discussing their experiences
with each other.
Ethical considerations appear when research involves human participants – the
conflict between the ‘right to know’ and the
participants’ ‘right to privacy, dignity and
self-determination’. Rossman and Rallis84
considered that ethical dilemmas were not
solvable but could be reasoned through
moral principle; a researcher may not agree
with the prevailing dominant principle but
he or she must be able to explain the reason
behind it. Judd et al.85 believed that participant observation is clearly not free of ethical
problems; but the people who are studied
might be given a more equal voice if the
research is recoding rather than manipulating
events, and listening rather than forcing people into participation. Serious thought was
given to the ethical issue before carrying out
this participant observation research. The
research team believed that an observational
study of naturally occurring behaviour in a
public space, without any manipulation of
events, was acceptable since it did not expose
participants to physical or mental stress or
invade their privacy in any significant degree. The collected data, including conversations and observation of participants’ actions,
could be coded anonymously, and reflection
upon the customers’ needs and expectations
from the package tour could be viewed as a
social phenomenon. It was judged that a
covert participant approach was unlikely to
affect the privacy of participants, so participants were not told that they were being
observed.86 This avoided unnecessary bias
since the researcher was one of the group
participants and was no different from the
other travellers. He paid the same fee for
joining the tour, and the tour operator and
company employees were not aware of this
research. The researcher tried to maintain a
neutral role during conversations with group
members and avoided forced or leading
questions throughout the tour. Descriptive
observation was recorded in fieldnotes written in Chinese on a regular basis. This
enabled accurate records of conversations
and incidents to be written in private. Cultural differences did not hinder the participant observation.
Modified grounded theory87 was applied
to generate theory. An intensive data analysis
was processed to discover the cultural patterns of the social situation that emerged
during the observation. Fieldnotes were ana-
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Tourist satisfaction
lysed using domain analysis, which is a systematic examination of content and the
development of categories.88 The first step in
the analysis was to describe each group
member’s expectation and the actual travel
experience which they encountered on the
tour. The second step was to identify customers’ emotional feelings such as complaints,
enjoyment and levels of dis/satisfaction based
on their experiences with the service encounters and their interactions with other
group members. The third step was to categorize the critical incidents in each sector of
the guided package tour which led to complaints, enjoyment and levels of dis/satisfaction. Critical incidents were identified
within the general framework of Wang et
al.89 (see Figure 2). Based on the critical
incidents, the final step was to identify the
variables that related to customer dis/satisfaction. This is depicted in Figure 3.
This study focused on the observations of
the original experiences of tour participants
during the tour only. An important part of
this study is the identification of those variables that influence customers’ satisfaction
which emerged during the participant-
Figure 3
observation. However, it should be noted
that this study evaluates rather than measures
customers’ satisfaction.
The participating group members were
international tourists and most of them spoke
English. Some nuances of language might
not have been observed due to the accents
and second languages spoken. Less familiarity
with cultures, and also cultural differences,
among group members may have in minor
ways affected the researcher’s collection of
wider opinions and interpretation of nuance.
However, these limitations were deemed to
be relatively minor restrictions and thought
not to have affected the accuracy of data
analysis. Other limitations may also have occurred. First, the data collection primarily
focused on the stories of the participant
group members about their experiences,
whilst the tour leader’s perspective was not
investigated in depth. Second, the tour operator organized two groups (A and B) at the
same time with the same itinerary. Participants’ dis/satisfaction in Group B (see below)
might have been different if they had not
been able to compare their experiences with
Group A.
The study’s approach
Participant
observation
Modified
grounded
theory
Emotional
feeling
Performance of customers
Performance of suppliers
in each sectors
Domain
analysis
Theories:
Performance, equity,
expectation,
disconfirmation,
attribution, emotion
Critical
incidents
Variables related to
customer satisfaction
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Bowie and Chang
FINDINGS
A number of key findings emerged. First,
prior expectations, attitude and behaviour
and equity were found to have significantly
influenced customers’ enjoyment and satisfaction on the tour. Second, there were two
major sources of complaints – the tour operator’s arrangements (hotel selection and itinerary) and the tour leader’s competence.
Third, couples seemed to have more enjoyment and fewer complaints than the solo
participants – indeed the British, Irish and
Australian couples did not show especial
emotional reactions to problems and did not
complain. Finally, the results indicated that
the tour leader is the significant determinant
– psychologically, spiritually and practically –
affecting the success of the tour product.
Expectations
The findings suggested that the customer’s
degree of expectation is strongly related to
past travel experience and the perception of
package tour products. Past travel experience
can be classified into past guided package
tour experiences – either with the same or a
different tour operator – and non-guided
package tour experiences. Mancini90 stated
that tour participants bring high expectations
– for example, they expect that every meal
in the tour will be perfect – and so their
expectations are unrealistic. In this study
participants who had organized their own
vacations, and for whom this was the first
time they had joined a group tour, tended to
have low expectations. In contrast, those
who had travelled with the same tour operator before had high expectations; they
tended to develop an ideal level of expectation which was based on their previous
experiences.91 However, since all the participants were visiting Scandinavia for the first
time, some of the expectations about the
tour product were not explicit – except their
expectations of the tour leader’s role.
‘This is my first time joining a group tour
and I don’t expect too much.’ JJ (American, who has travelled a lot with his wife).
‘Why do you join the group tour if you
don’t expect too much? I always expect
more.’ AW (American woman, Day 10).
AI, an Australian, asked the tour leader for
optional tours on Day 1 and said that she
would like to join them all. She had very
high expectations of all the optional tours
(from previous experience) – she joined
all of them and was happy with the results.
Most of the participants with previous travel
experience expected the tour leader would
‘do a good job’ during the tour. This high
expectation was based on their previous
positive experiences with tour leaders. The
findings showed that customers’ expectations
were closely related to past personal experiences – good experiences resulted in higher
expectations; negative experiences resulted
in lower expectations. However, once the
tour had started the participants’ actual expectations of Group B’s tour leader were
affected by comparison with Group A’s tour
leader. In one sense, their ‘zone of tolerance’
narrowed and their adequate level of expectations shifted higher. This comparison may
have moved the perceptions of performance
down towards the ‘zone of indifference’.
Attitude and behaviour
At the beginning of the tour, participants
who were joining a group tour for the first
time and had negative thoughts, along with
those who had had unpleasant previous experiences, were uncertain and lacked confidence in the product. However, the
performance of the tour leader and interactions with other group participants either
confirmed their fears or altered their opinion
(positively). Indeed, the participants’ enjoyment of the tour was based more on numerous ‘moments of truth’ rather than any
prejudicial pre-tour attitudes. Attitudes were
also influenced by the positive/negative views
of other participants. Under certain circumstances, tourists’ behaviour was changed by
either imitation, interaction or the setting.
For example, at the end of the city tour
(Day 10), the tour guide was standing at the
front door of the coach waiting for her tips.
AI, an experienced traveller who had joined
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Tourist satisfaction
most of the optional tours, said ‘There is no
need to tip the tour guide.’ Not many
participants tipped her – despite encouragement in the tour booklet and suggestions
from the overall tour leader. The coach had
two doors and some group members got off
the coach through the back door to avoid
the embarrassment of not tipping.
A positive interpersonal relationship is
vital for travellers during the journey. The
study group was composed of numerous
couples, several solo travellers and two
families from all over the world. The couples
seemed to have more interactions with other
couples and tended to enjoy each other’s
companionship. Most of the solo participants
did not seem to be enjoying the companionship of their tour members very much (see
Table 1). Several causes for this were apparent: their cultural background, personality,
the reduced chances of interaction with the
couples and purpose of travel. This study
showed that the couples and family groups
seemed more satisfied and complained less
than the solo participants but there is certainly scope for confirmation of such a finding in a further study.
Equity
The itinerary involved many days of long
driving by coach through rural areas. The
tour leader had requested ‘seat rotation’ to
enable each group participant to have an
equal opportunity of sitting in the front.
However, many tour participants were confused by this, and whilst some participants
did rotate others did not; this resulted in
conflict between group members, which was
not resolved by the tour leader. Besides seat
rotation, several other issues concerned the
participants, such as the tour leader’s lack of
experience, the fee paid for the tour, the
extra room fee for solo participants and the
contents of optional tours. The following are
extracts from the researcher’s notes.
‘In the morning a quarrel occurred. AI
complained to the tour leader that some
group participants always occupied the
front seat. The tour leader was quiet. AAB
fought back and said to AI: ‘‘Lady, why
don’t you just shut up.’’ (Day 10)’
‘AJ, an American, couldn’t sleep in a
single-size bed. She complained and said
‘‘it is unfair, I have paid an extra fee for
the hotel room – how come I only get a
single-sized bed in my room?’’ (Day 3)’
‘SG from Singapore said: ‘‘I feel that some
optional tours are focusing on food which
is only suitable for Western people. I feel
that it is not worth joining them – it is
boring and a waste of time because these
people tend to spend long hours drinking
wine.’’ (Day 2)’
‘The comparison between Group A and
Group B’s tour leaders was noted when
both groups stayed in the same hotels.
Two Taiwanese tour participants in
Table 1: Solo participants and their problems
Character
Divorced woman – AC
Incident
Had lots of travel experience and had very high expectation of both the
tour operator and the tour leader; fought with a group member by accusing
him of not rotating his seat; was mad at a woman who was sitting next to
her on the coach for speaking too much; she disliked a lady who
complained too much.
Single woman – AJ
Interrupted others’ conversation without any hesitating; could not find
partners to go to the pub; annoyed tour members and gave the tour leader
lots of headaches by persistent requests for a queen-size bed.
Married woman travelling Lost her luggage for many days; complained that the food was without
alone – KW
enough vegetables; was not pleased with the tour leader; could not stand
the roommate for either making too much noise or being too dependent.
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Bowie and Chang
Group A told me that Group B are unhappy with their tour leader and they considered Group A tour leader to be much
more interesting and stimulating. (Day 4)’
Enjoyment
Undoubtedly, travellers hope that they will
have an enjoyable holiday. Indeed, enjoyment influences the level of customer dis/
satisfaction, especially through memorable
incidents – both positive and negative. Many
studies have shown that relaxation and appreciating the local scenery are important for
travellers.92 This study demonstrated that
most group participants prefer to rise late,
dislike a rushed itinerary and want the opportunity to explore local areas for themselves. Many participants suggested that the
itinerary of the trip should be altered and the
coach should stop at small towns instead of at
restaurants next to gas stations for breaks. En
route, potentially interesting scenic visits and
contact with local culture were frequently
unenjoyable, due to the limited time available because of itinerary constraints. In fact,
a contradiction always existed between tour
operators and their customers regarding the
tight schedule.
Whilst bars were favourite places for
Western people, the Asians were less interested in drinking alcohol in bars. Most of the
tour participants regarded shopping and taking photos as significant and enjoyable activities on the tour. Purchasing souvenirs and
gifts for family and friends and showing
photos are a key part of the post-tour enjoyment – shopping experiences can create
value by providing enjoyment.93 However,
the tour operator arranged accommodation
too far away from city centres and this
inhibited participants’ opportunity for shopping and nightlife activities.
Tour leaders’ performance:
Professional skills and unforeseeable
events
The tour leader came under special pressure
from tour participants when unforeseeable
events occurred. The various ethnic groups,
who had different cultural backgrounds and
different attitudes, had different approaches
to resolving difficulties, and this created
complications for the tour leader. Clearly,
many unforeseeable factors can affect customer enjoyment and satisfaction, especially
the performance of the tour leader under
pressure. This study identified two dimensions – external factors and internal factors –
which put the tour leader under pressure.
The external factors included delayed flights,
hotels’ labour shortage, bad weather, lost
luggage, illness, non-punctuality such as
group members arriving late for coach departures, overcrowding in restaurants, tour
members’ attitudes such as breaking the rules
and selfishness and language obstacles.
Among those variables, participants’ personality was found to be the key factor involved
with the unforeseeable events. All of these
events occurred and influenced dis/satisfaction to a certain degree, but they were out of
the tour leader’s control. These events were
noted by the reseacher.
‘Following a city tour there was some free
time for leisure before the journey continued. When it was time for the coach to
depart, AC was missing and no one knew
where she was. One hour later she came
back and the tour leader wanted her to
apologize to all the group members. AC
just said: ‘‘I lost direction’’, but other tour
participants were upset. (Day 4)’
‘KW, a married Korean woman from the
USA, took the tour alone because of
marital problems. The airline lost her luggage and did not return her suitcases for
several days. This put her in an extremely
bad mood and totally ruined her holiday –
even though the tour leader spent a lot of
time calling the airline on her behalf.’
Internal factors primarily involved the tour
leader’s professional skills. The findings revealed that the tour leader’s character, personal experience and knowledge were most
important. The lack of experience of the
Group B tour leader and the comparison
with the Group A tour leader made the
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Tourist satisfaction
Group B tour leader a target for criticism.
However, without such a comparison (i.e. if
there was only one coach on the tour),
Group B participants might have had different opinions/perceptions of their tour leader. Some evidence demonstrating the tour
leader’s shortcomings included:
• unfamiliarity with the local language –
the tour leader could not help customers
to order food;
• non-familiarity with some hotels arranged for the journey;
• lack of enthusiasm to help tour participants under certain circumstances;
• unwillingness to hear advice;
• inadequate knowledge in interpretation;
• inadequate communication skills, which
resulted in misunderstandings with some
of the group members.
A number of tour participants chose the
tour operator because of their favourable
impression of tour leader performance on
previous tours. The Group B tour leader
admitted that she had only a few months’
guiding experience. Although she actually
did make a considerable effort on behalf of
participants, the comparison with the experienced tour leader put her in a difficult situation. This finding showed that an
inexperienced tour leader could easily jeopardize customers’ satisfaction because of a
lack of core knowledge and the inability to
explain local Scandinavian culture, customs
and history. Simply providing a good service
without giving detailed explanations of the
locality was not satisfactory for some participants. Interpersonal communication skills
were another significant factor for success,
especially when providing services for international tourists.
Participants’ complaints with regard to the
Group B tour leader included:
• did not control noisy participants when
travelling on the coach;
• forgot to pick up a participant at the
airport!
• lack of knowledge and inexperienced;
• did not take group members out to local
bars and attractions;
Page 316
• talked too much;
• did not prevent disagreements between
participants, for example forgetting to
remind participants to rotate their seats.
Some of the complaints stemmed from
the fact that the tour leader had personal
favourites. Indeed, the performance of the
tour leader could have been improved if she
had paid more attention to the opinions of
the tour participants. These shortcomings influenced customer enjoyment and satisfaction in different degrees, either directly or
indirectly. However, not all the tour participants were upset by these shortcomings.
Complaints
One cause of dissatisfaction toward the tour
operator was the intense itinerary and many
days of long driving by coach especially the
whole day driving on Day 11. However, the
findings showed that tour members complained more about the hotel services and
the tour leader than other services. This
might indicate a correlation between the
length of contact time and the number of
complaints. Participants tended to expect
better-quality hotel facilities and services, but
complained when the services were inconsistent or unsatisfactory. In fact, customers’
complaints about the service of hotels
seemed to be understandable; they did not
overexaggerate their demands or require
high standards of service quality or facilities.
Their complaints could be avoided if service
providers were thoughtful when providing
services. Complaints were noted by the researcher.
‘During a hotel check-in, BJW, a couple
who were both slightly disabled, were
upset by the hotel service. The hotel had
no elevators and no service personnel who
could help them to carry their luggage to
the hotel room. (Day 1)’
‘The hotel on the first night and the last
night was situated next to a railway, which
upset many participants. One participant
complained that this was an absolutely
unforgivable mistake. (Day 1)’
Bowie and Chang
‘During lunchtime, AI, AJ and AC sat
together. AJ from America complained
that she couldn’t sleep and fell out of the
bed all the time. She said ‘‘. . .the single
size bed is too small for me to sleep in.’’ AJ
approached the tour leader many times to
request a double bedroom. One day before the check-in to the hotel she again
argued with the tour leader. The tour
leader said, ‘‘. . . our conversation is over’’
(Day 2, 3)’
DISCUSSION
It might seem that there is no way in which
a tour operator could satisfy each individual
need during a service encounter unless
dealing with a luxury/small tour with a
homogeneous group. Although customers’
expectations are strongly related to past travel
experiences, their expectations can be unrealistic when on the tour. Too many unforeseeable factors affect the service delivery not
to mention the complex background of a
mixed group of international tourists. Cultural differences and individual personality
also influence the satisfaction of customers.
Moreover, the tour leader’s performance
seems difficult to standardize. It is true that
an experienced tour leader should be able to
foresee problems and solve them before they
occur. To avoid misunderstanding, perhaps
the tour operator should provide customers
with a list of the ‘dos and don’ts’ that might
allow a tour to be more successful. If this is
not practical, an introduction at the beginning of a tour by the tour leader so as to
identify the nature of the product and local
culture is essential. Psychological build-up
and good communication with customers
are important for providing a successful service.
However, whilst the work that the tour
operator or tour leader has done on behalf of
customers may be very good, it may not
entirely influence customers’ total satisfaction. In short, customers’ satisfaction is composed of hard tangible elements and soft
intangible service. It is the combination of,
on the one hand, the service performance of
the tour leader and the tour operator and, on
the other, the customers’ anticipation and
perceptions of the vacation, their expectations prior to the tour, their attitudes and
behaviour (past travel experience) and their
perceptions of equity and unforeseeable
events during service encounters. The tour
leader coordinates the successful delivery of
the tour operator’s product provided by a
multiplicity of suppliers. Customers’ satisfaction will be developed through confidence
in the product and the leadership of the tour
leader (see Figure 4). Pond94 discovered that
‘condescending’, substandard behaviour toward groups is rampant throughout the industry. He considered that leadership and
social skills are significant in the guiding
experience. Lopez95 considered that leadership styles of tour leaders during a tour are
related to customer satisfaction. Lopez suggested that in the initial period of the tour
the group members are more satisfied with
the tour quality under authoritarian leadership. By contrast, in the latter part of the tour
the group members are more satisfied under
democratic leadership. As a result, clear
Formation of customer satisfaction – The role of the tour leader
Hotels
Restaurants
Hard tangible
elements
Confidence
Tour operator
Tour leader
Expectation
Satisfaction
Leadership
Coach
Attractions
Figure 4
Equity
Customer behaviour
Unforeseeable events
Experience
Soft intangible
service
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Tourist satisfaction
structuring of orientation sessions for travellers may be very important at the initial stage
of the tour, and may enhance the confidence
of the travellers.
CONCLUSION
Whilst looking at customer satisfaction, most
researchers use a quantitative research technique of questionnaires to measure the level
of customer dis/satisfaction, using those determinants which researchers have assumed
will have an impact on customer satisfaction.
In order to look with insight into the reality
of customer dis/satisfaction, this study used
participant observation to collect first-hand,
rich information. It could be argued that
conducting only one participant observation
was not enough to discover the whole picture
of how travellers were satisfied. In addition,
the collected data might be biased due to the
researcher’s personal subjectivity even though
the researcher took great care to avoid such a
situation. Post-tour telephone interviews
were considered in order to overcome the
limitations of participant observation study.
However, the researcher faced the challenge
of accessibility in engaging in international
telephone interviews: the tour participants
were from different countries, and were not
told that they were being observed.
Customer satisfaction is a pivotal concern
for tour operators to generate future business. This study identified the following important variables, which were related to
customer satisfaction during a mixed international guided package tour: expectation, customer on-tour attitude and behaviour, the
perception of equity and the performance of
the tour leader. The study also developed a
framework (see Figure 4) for tour operators
in providing customer satisfaction. The proposed framework suggested the importance
of the tour leader’s leadership skills and
emphasized the importance of tour leaders’
performance but ignored the service attitude
of tour leaders, such as personal service
attention.
In fact, international tourists from different cultural backgrounds might evaluate tour
leaders’ service attitude as more important
Page 318
than their performance skills. Asian tourists
demand much more personalized and customer-oriented service.96 Since culture symbolizes patterns of behaviour associated with a
particular group of people,97 different ethnic
groups might require different leadership
styles and service attention. It was impossible
to specify what kinds of leadership styles
might be appropriate for a tour leader for a
mixed international guided package tour. A
further study would be useful to find out the
service characteristics/leadership styles of
tour leaders from different ethnic groups or
nationalities, and which style(s) would fit
best in a mixed international guided tour.
This study has hinted at the different
needs for satisfaction in terms of ethnic
groups. Mixed-culture international group
tours will almost certainly increase in the
future. To understand better what makes
tourists dissatisfied or complain about a specific tourist experience, further studies
should seek to identify the needs of specific
ethnic groups. Moreover, it seems that companionship is a crucial factor in assessing
customer satisfaction; so the study of solo/
couple/family travel segments in the package
tour is also recommended for further research.
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