Abstract (150 Words)
It has been indicated that tourists’ satisfactions with each component of the destination have significant, positive, and direct effects on overall satisfaction. However, the existing researches have not satisfactorily represented individual heterogeneity in tourist satisfaction analysis. It is expected that the levels of importance attached to each component will vary across different tourists. To accommodate such kind of taste variations, this study employs the ordered probit model with random effect parameters to investigate the influence of component satisfaction on overall satisfaction. The model is applied to analyze tourist satisfaction in Kyusyu, Chugoku and Shikoku regions of Japan. The empirical results confirm the existence of taste variations in tourists’ valuation of three components, namely tourism resource, transportation system and supporting facilities. The finding has important practical implications for both destination management and policy making
Accommodating Taste Variations in Tourist Satisfaction Analysis
It has been indicated that tourists’ satisfactions with each component of the destination have significant, positive, and direct effects on overall satisfaction. However, the existing researches have not satisfactorily represented individual heterogeneity in tourist satisfaction analysis. It is expected that the levels of importance attached to each component will vary across different tourists. To accommodate such kind of taste variations, this study employs the ordered probit model with random effect parameters to investigate the influence of component satisfaction on overall satisfaction. The model is applied to analyze tourist satisfaction in Kyusyu, Chugoku and Shikoku regions of Japan. The empirical results confirm the existence of taste variations in tourists’ valuation of three components, namely tourism resource, transportation system and supporting facilities. The finding has important practical implications for both destination management and policy making
