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Abstract
The current study investigates factors that influence tourist satisfaction. The research framework was constructed based on the extensive literature review to establish the hypothesis. The questionnaire was designed and included a total of eight attributes factors and thirty sub attributes identified to be examined. The results found fifteen satisfactory factors, eight dissatisfactory factors and seven indifferent factors. This study revealed that factors have significant effect on overall tourist satisfaction. In addition, results confirmed that overall tourist satisfaction is significantly different based on some controlling factors, namely demographic characteristics, cultural characteristics travel behaviour characteristics and information source.
Keywords: Tourist satisfaction, destination attributes, cultural characteristics, information source.
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Introduction
Tourism industry is important as it plays an important role in the economy of developing and developed countries. The definition of "tourism" evolved along the last decades (Vanhove, 2005) and it is now commonly accepted that it includes a dynamic element (temporary travel), a static element (staying in a specific destination outside the tourist's normal place of work and residence) and economic consequences (facilities and services provided). A comprehensive approach has been recently adopted by UNWTO (2003): tourists are "people who travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited".
According to Cronin and Brady (2000), customer satisfaction has attracted a lot of attention in the literature dedicated to this area due to its potential influence over the behavior of consumers and their retention. Consumer satisfaction has been defined in several forms, from cognitive or affective approaches to other that indicate the specific or accumulative charter of the transaction ( Hoest & Knie-Anderson, 2004). Satisfaction is affected by three antecedents (Anderson, Fornell, & Lehmann, 1994). They are the perceived quality, the price (perceived value) and expectation. Jin Huh (2002) noted the importance of cultural factors and found that the characteristics of tourists are important factors of tourists' satisfaction with destinations. The study highlighted that socioeconomic, demographic, and behavioral indicators, such as age, gender, income, marital status, occupations, education, or ethnic background must be taken into account. Most researchers...