Impacts of development of tourism destinations on tourist perceptions of destinations’ attributes and satisfaction in gateway communities, Northern Tanzania
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Date
2023
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisur
Abstract
Tourists perceptions and satisfaction are likely to be affected by attributes found in a particular stage of destination
development. This study examined 24 attributes considered important in influencing tourist perception and
satisfaction in three tourism destinations found in gateway communities; Loliondo, lake Natron and Burunge in
northern Tanzania. Using confirmatory factor analysis, four factors, namely, Amenities, Accessibility, Core
Attractions and Ancillary services, were predictors of tourists’ perception and satisfaction. The Importance-
Performance Analysis (IPA) model was also employed to assess tourist’s perspectives on attribute importance and
performance towards overall satisfaction. It was found that, attributes for core attraction factor are the most
important to tourists and performed well (“Keep Up the Good work” quadrant of IPA grid). Although, the
perceived overall satisfaction among the 422 sample tourists was high, some attributes reflecting on Accessibility,
Amenities and Ancillary services factors were perceived to be underperforming (“Concentrate here” quadrant),
thus demanding immediate attention of destination managers. This study has addressed the knowledge gap
emanating from prior studies in gateway communities by examining tourists’ perceptions and extent of satisfaction
with destination attributes in the development stage of destination life cycle, thus, provided necessary input
information to destination planning for further tourism development.
Description
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, Vol 12, 1, pp. 75-97
Keywords
Tourists satisfaction, Importance-performance analysis, tourism development, Northern Tanzania