Title: Satisfaction of foreign tourists in Ethiopia: using holiday satisfaction model

Authors: Wassie Getahun; Ran Singh Dhaliwal

Addresses: Department of Marketing Management, College of Business & Economics, University of Gondar, PO Box 196, Gondar, Ethiopia ' Department of Tourism, Hospitality & Hotel Management, Punjabi University, PO Box: 147002, Punjab, India

Abstract: This study was designed to investigate the satisfaction level of foreign tourists in Ethiopia and identify the underlying dimensions of destination attributes of Ethiopia. An exploratory study was carried out in three world heritage sites inscribed by UNESCO and 286 tourists were included in the study. Descriptive statistics, paired sample t-test and exploratory factor analysis were used. The findings show that in 11 out of 25 positive attributes, the performance ratings were significantly higher than the expectations of holidaymakers. However, foreign tourists were dissatisfied with six out of eight negative destination attributes. The findings indicate that Attraction sites and history and Leisure activities and facilities were the two most important dimensions of destination attributes of Ethiopia. The implications will help destination managers to realise the level of tourists' satisfaction and improve certain attributes and areas where dissatisfaction was observed.

Keywords: destination attributes; Ethiopia; expectation; HOLSAT; perception; tourist satisfaction.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLTM.2017.084641

International Journal of Leisure and Tourism Marketing, 2017 Vol.5 No.2, pp.163 - 188

Received: 06 Jul 2016
Accepted: 11 Jan 2017

Published online: 19 Jun 2017 *

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