Relating Destination Satisfaction to Future Travel Behavior

This study employs stepwise discriminant function analysis to reduce the number of variables that best classified travelers into one of two categories based on the "trip satisfaction" variable. The resultant "behavioral model" defined the method for predicting satisfaction levels in tourism travelers to a particular tourism destination based on a list of variables that characterized a variety of travel behaviors. The discriminant function reduced the total list of 67 variables to 15 variables that correctly classified visitors who were more (or less) satisfied with their leisure experience in Tampa 74% of the time. The list included such guest reactions to questions about "perceived value of their travel dollar," "whether or not they dined out," and "the daily amount spent on lodging." The significant difference in means between the satisfied and less satisfied visitors indicated that a high number of visitors must be staying with friends or family because the entire population for this study spent at least one night at the destination area. Further analysis of the high satisfaction group indicated that 47% of this group responded that visiting friends and family was an important reason for traveling to this destination. The importance that most satisfied guests placed on proper signage, customer service, Florida climate, dining out, and variety of available activities were all additional significant predictors of customer satisfaction.