Determinants of Tourists Satisfaction with Hotel Service in Zanzibar

Abstract

The study focused on investigating the determinants of tourists’ satisfaction with hotel service quality in Zanzibar. The study was guided by three specific objectives which were to; • Determine tourists’ expectation regarding the quality of hotel service • Determine the relationship between tourists’ socio-demographic characteristics expectation of hotel service quality and finally • Examine the relationship between tourists’ socio-demographic characteristics and satisfaction with specific hotel service quality This study was guided by Expectancy- disconfirmation Theory. The application of expectancy-disconfirmation theory toward the provision of good services to customer was that, customer is either satisfied or dissatisfied as a result of positive or negative differences between expectation and perception. The customer satisfaction correlates with customers’ willingness to return after they experienced the service. Application of expectancy-disconfirmation theory toward the provision of good services to customer was that customer is either satisfied or dissatisfied as a result of positive or negative differences between expectation and perception. Thus, when service performance is better than what the customer had initially expected, there is a negative disconfirmation between expectation and performance which result in satisfaction. In contrast when service performance is not as good as what the customer expected there is negative disconfirmation between expectation and perception which will cause dissatisfaction.

This study was conducted in Zanzibar; which is a semi-autonomous part of the United Republic of Tanzania in East Africa. It is composed of the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25-50 Kilometres off the coast of the mainland and consists of two main Islands (Unguja and Pemba). The study focused on the capital of Zanzibar (Stone Town) because its hotels had been in business long enough to provide information on tourists’ satisfaction as well the hotels had experienced the incidence of tourists’ dissatisfaction. The town is located in the middle of the West coast of Zanzibar. The town was named for coral stone buildings that were built during the 19th century. Stone town is home to 1700 buildings and over 16000 people. Locally produced craft can be found in the shops and bazaars. This study adopted cross-sectional survey design, data collection tools such as questionnaires and interview were administered in the collection of primary information. The design used in this study allowed data to be collected at a single point in time, it also allows comparison of different types of respondents and measuring of association between factors and outcome. • Qualitative data analysis Qualitative data analysis involved giving meaning to the mass information collected by organising the data and creating categories and themes. Content analysis was used where by data were summarised by their themes, concepts or phrases related to tourists’ service quality and satisfaction. Furthermore, open ended questions in the questionnaire and interview guide were organised into themes pertinent to the study. In analysing the data, the study evaluated the usefulness of the information given by respondents. The themes were later organised into coherent categories which summarised determinants of tourists’ satisfaction with hotel service quality. Qualitative data were then integrated with quantitative data to provide meaningful conclusion. • Quantitative data analysis Statistical analysis in this study was primarily informed by what best fit the data rather than a technique chosen beforehand. Analysis for this study comprised of the univariate and bivariate analysis of data. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v 20) software programme was used to analyse the data. Univariate analysis involved analysis of demographic characteristics of tourists sampled for the study. It also involved analysis of the primary variables of the study. The analysis provided basic description of the responses on the various variables measured. Results of this analysis were presented in tables showing the various frequencies and percentages of the measured variables. Findings of the study; • The findings on the expectations of tourists on hotel service quality prior to their visits in Zanzibar revealed that, a high percentage of tourists 61% had high expectation on the quality of hotel service, on assessing the quality of hotel service received 58% of tourists rated the quality of hotel service as good.

• With regard to the expectation of specific hotel service quality measures revealed that a high percentage (59%) of the tourists had high expectation of service quality in Zanzibar and finally the evaluation of specific hotel service quality measures revealed that a high percentage (59%) of the tourists rated the specific services they received as excellent.

• In testing the hypotheses, the results of the chi-square test of independence revealed that there was a significant relationship between sex and tourists’ satisfaction with hotel service quality. More female respondents indicated high satisfaction than males’ respondents (p< 0.05). Furthermore, the results revealed that there was a significant relationship between tourists’ country of origin and overall satisfaction with hotel service quality (p<0.05). Respondents from European countries being more likely to be unsatisfied with hotel service quality. A significant relationship (p=0.000) was also obtained for relationship between age and tourists’ satisfaction, with tourists belonging to the 51 or more years cohort being more likely to be satisfied with hotel service quality. Conclusion The identification of factors which determine tourists’ satisfaction and an investigation of the relationship between tourists’ characteristics and tourists’ satisfaction was needed. The study provided directions for future research; from this aspect, the study provided a general picture of service quality factors that determine or predict tourists’ satisfaction and the relationship between tourists’ characteristics and tourists’ overall satisfaction with hotel services. Recommendation • Managers and marketers are required to enhance their strengths and improve on their weaknesses because in order to create effective marketing strategies for products and services in the tourism market and hospitality industry, a better understanding of tourists who visit tourists’ destinations and who patronise hotel services in necessary. • The study however, did not ascertain the relationship between tourist satisfaction and intention to revisit a hotel. Future research should investigate the relationship between tourists’ satisfaction and intention to revisit the hotels.