A Cross-Sector Evaluation of Service Quality in the Tourism Industry of Hong Kong: Importance vs. Performance

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1 Journal of China Tourism Research, 4:319±335, 2008 Copyright # 2008 The Haworth Press ISSN: print / online DOI: / A Cross-Sector Evaluation of Service Quality in the Tourism Industry of Hong Kong: Importance vs. Performance Å8 Ï èlä0ðí 'vs.éh XIN JIN SHANSHAN QI CHIA-HAO CHIANG This study evaluates visitor overall satisfaction with the quality of services provided by the hotel, restaurant, and retail sectors in Hong Kong. A survey with questionnaire items derived from SERVQUAL was conducted and statistical techniques, including regression, importance-performance analysis, and ANOVA, are used for analysis. The performance of service attributes and their relative impacts on overall satisfaction are identified. A cross-sector and cross-region comparison is made. It is found that the perceived overall satisfaction levels of visitors are significantly correlated with their place of domicile and two different travel modes, namely, independent travel and guided package tours. As a whole, the hotel sector enjoys a level of overall satisfaction higher than that of the other two sectors. Managerial implications of service quality improvement are drawn. KEYWORDS. Customer satisfaction, service quality, SERVQUAL, importanceperformance analysis, Hong Kong tourism,vä08 ù /R Œö. Ï tsá 8 á ÇSERVQUALîwŒß ¹ÕÛLß ¹ÕìÞR Í '/éh Œ¹î,vnš éh^'êvùtsá q ÍvÛLèLè0: ÔƒvÑ 8 å tsá Öì EO0Œ$Í Å8!Ðê Å8Œ Å8Ðsû>W;SR tsá Ô Œö.:Ø,vˆùðvÓºÐú9 Ï ú s.í: ˆ9á, Ï, SERVQUAL, Í '/éh, /Å8 Xin Jin is PhD student of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China; She is also lecturer of Faculty of English Language and Culture, Guandong University of Foreign Studies, China x.jin@polyu.edu.hk). Shanshan Qi is PhD student of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China shan. qi@polyu.edu.hk). Chia-Hao Chiang is PhD Student of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. He is also assistant professor of The Department of Tourism at Aletheia University, Taiwan williamchiang@polyu.edu.hk). 319

2 320 Xin Jin, Shanshan Qi, and Chia-Hao Chiang Introduction Hong Kong is one of the leading travel destinations in Asia Qu & Sit, 2007; Song, Wong, & Chon, 2003). According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board Hong Kong Tourism Board PartnerNet, 2008), the Hong Kong tourism industry had a record of 28 million-plus visitor arrivals in 2007, representing an 11% increase over Although the figure of tourist arrivals is a strong indication that Hong Kong is a popular destination, it is commonly known that Hong Kong is facing severe competition from nearby countries and regions, such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Macau. It is essential that the Hong Kong tourism industry be aware of the challenges and implement certain approaches to continually improve its service quality and increase customer satisfaction to consolidate its status in the tourism industry in Southeast Asia. Customer satisfaction can enhance customer loyalty, reduce price sensitivity, and have a positive impact on customer retention and word-of-mouth recommendations Beckman & Gilson, 1986; Hansemark & Albinsson, 2004; Matzler, Bailom, Hinterber, Renzl, & Pichler, 2004). Improving customer satisfaction is thus critical for business managers Yuksel & Yuksel, 2001). The key issue is to determine the essential factors affecting customer satisfaction. Luk and Layton 2002) indicate that consumer satisfaction can be measured via perceived service quality by testing whether the level of service performance matches consumer expectations. Commonly, visitors to a destination desire lodging and dining and shopping venues. Hence, the quality of service provided in these particular tourism sectors plays a decisive role in visitor perceived satisfaction with service quality. Prior studies have investigated the quality of and customer satisfaction with hotel services in Hong Kong; however, few extant studies have examined service performance and customer satisfaction across various tourism sectors. This study attempts to examine service quality and customer satisfaction across three major tourism sectors in Hong Kong, namely, the hotel, restaurant, and retail sectors. The objectives of the study include: N identifying the service attributes perceived by visitors as important to satisfaction; N ascertaining how the three major tourism sectors are performing in providing quality services to meet visitors' expectations; N providing useful quantitative information for the improvement of service quality to the three major tourism sectors; and N comparing visitors' overall service satisfaction across the three major tourism sectors. Literature Review Customer satisfaction is a psychological notion that involves the feeling of well-being and pleasure that results from obtaining what one hopes for and expects from an appealing product and/or service United Nations World Tourism Organization [UNWTO], 1985). Customer satisfaction is the leading criterion for determining the quality of the outcome product/service) delivered and the accompanying process Vavra, as cited in Pizam and Ellis 1999)). Studying customer satisfaction is essential for all service firms, as satisfaction leads to customer behavioral intentions, including repeat patronage and the word-of-mouth effect Beckman & Gilson, 1986). In the measurement of customer satisfaction, the expectancy disconfirmation theory of

3 Journal of China Tourism Research 321 Oliver 1980) is most widely used Kozak, 2001). The theory has been used in several prior studies e.g., Oliver & DeSarbo, 1988; Tse & Wilton, 1988). The rationale underlying the theory is that customers have expectations about the performance of goods and services before making a purchase. Once a purchase has been completed and the goods/services used, outcomes are compared against expectations. When expectations are met, confirmation occurs. Disconfirmation occurs when there are gaps between expectations and outcomes. Negative disconfirmation takes place when product/service performance is less than expected, and positive disconfirmation takes place when product/service performance is better than expected. Satisfaction is caused by confirmation or positive disconfirmation of consumer expectations, and dissatisfaction is caused by negative disconfirmation of consumer expectations. Expectations and perceptions of outcomes, however, can be subjective, relative, and temporal Davis & Stone, 1985; Maiser, 1985; Yuksel & Yuksel, 2001). SERVQUAL Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1988) is a survey tool that examines the difference, or the gap, between the perceived expectation of a service and perceived performance of the service. Since its introduction in 1985 and amendment in 1988, SERVQUAL has been used in many studies related to the tourism industry e.g., Fick & Ritchie, 1991; Luk, Corina, Leong, & Li, 1993; Pizam & Ellis, 1999; Qu & Sit, 2007; Saleh & Ryan, 1991). Although under criticism, SERVQUAL remains one of the pre-eminent instruments for measuring the quality of services as perceived by customers. The SERVQUAL instrument includes five service quality dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy Parasuraman et al., 1988). By using SERVQUAL, the gap between expectations and satisfaction can be analyzed to help service managers recognize what to target for improvement and how to prioritize improvement efforts for the best effect. Importance-performance analysis IPA) was introduced to the marketing field in the late 1970s Martilla & James, 1977) and has consistently been used together with SERVQUAL dimensions in studies of hospitality and tourism e.g., Evans & Chon, 1989; Go & Zhang, 1997). Importance-performance analysis provides service managers with valuable information on both customer satisfaction measurement and the efficient allocation of resources, all in an easily applicable format Wade & Eagles, 2003). It identifies the strengths and weaknesses of brands, products, and services by comparing two criteria that consumers use when making a service choice: the perceived importance of reviewed service attributes and the evaluation of the performance of those attributes Wade & Eagles, 2003). The results are analyzed using a central tendency method such as the mean or median or a rank-order measure, and then ordered and classified into high or low categories Qu & Sit, 2007). By pairing these two sets of rankings, each service attribute is placed into one of the four quadrants of the importance-performance grid: Keep Up the Good Work, Possible Overkill, Low Priority, and Concentrate Here Crompton and Duray, as cited in Deng 2007)). Unlike material products or pure services, most hospitality experiences are an amalgam of products and services. Therefore, it is reasonable to say that satisfaction with a hospitality experience such as a hotel accommodation or restaurant meal is the sum total of satisfaction with the individual elements or attributes of all the products and services that make up the experience Kozak, 2001). A number of prior studies of the tourism industry in Hong Kong have been conducted. For instance, Chu and Choi 2000) used IPA to examine tourist perceived importance and

4 322 Xin Jin, Shanshan Qi, and Chia-Hao Chiang performance of six hotel selection factors 26 attributes) in Hong Kong. Qu and Sit 2007) investigated the service quality levels of Hong Kong hotels using IPA, with 22 service attributes. Wong and Law 2003) investigated traveller expectations and perceptions of shopping in Hong Kong in terms of service quality, quality of goods, variety of goods, and price of goods. Au and Law 2002) analyzed tourism dining and its significant contributions to the Hong Kong tourism industry by adopting an alternative approach that integrated rough set theory into relationship modelling in dining. Although these previous studies evaluated Hong Kong tourism services, studies of restaurant or retail services in Hong Kong are apparently few. Further, few studies have conducted cross-sector comparison of related services in Hong Kong, which is one of the major objectives of this study. Methodology The study used the survey method to collect information on visitor satisfaction levels in the hotel, restaurant, and retail sectors. Based on the service dimensions in SERVQUAL Parasuraman et al., 1988), a survey questionnaire was developed that comprised three parts: screening questions, service attributes and satisfaction, and demographics. Two dependent variables overall satisfaction and behavioral intention) and 10 to 13 independent variables related to the importance and performance of the service attributes were included in the questionnaire. Respondents were asked to rate the importance and performance of the service attributes and their overall satisfaction level for each of the three sectors on a 5-point Likert-type scale, where 1 is ``not important at all'' or ``very dissatisfied'' and 5 is ``very important'' or ``very satisfied.'' The survey was conducted from 3 December 2004 to 6 January 2005 at the following five locations: Hong Kong International Airport, Macau Ferry Terminal, China Ferry Terminal, KCRHung Hom Station, and the Avenue of Stars. A total of 361 valid samples were obtained for hotels, 378 for restaurants, and 372 for retail stores. Regression, IPA, frequency tests, cluster analysis, independent sample t-tests, and ANOVA using SPSS 13.0 Chicago, IL) were conducted to process the data collected. Research Findings Demographic and Travelling Profiles Table 1 shows the demographic and travelling profiles of the respondents. The majority of the respondents in the hotel sector were male 52.6%), whereas in the retail sector, more respondents were female 55.4%). In the restaurant sector, there was an equal number of male and female respondents. In all three sectors, more than 50% of the respondents were aged between 26 and 45, and most of the respondents were not first-time visitors. The most significant share of respondents, in any of the three sectors, was those from Mainland China, followed by those from Taiwan and then South and Southeast Asia. Only around 8±11% of respondents were from other areas of the world. More respondents in the hotel sector had spent 4 to 5 days on their trips than those in each of the other two sectors. In general, over 50% of any sector's respondents had spent 1 to 3 days on their trips. Regarding travelling mode, most of the respondents in the three sectors were travelling independently as compared to joining guided package tours. Of the respondents, most were travelling

5 Journal of China Tourism Research 323 Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of Respondents. Gender HtR %) RsR %) ReR %) Male Female Age HtR %) RsR %) ReR %) 16± ± ± ± and above First-time visit HtR %) RsR %) ReR %) no yes Mode of travel HtR %) RsR %) ReR %) Independent travel All-inclusive package w/tg Annual household income HtR %) RsR %) ReR %) - For mainland Chinese visitors US $71, US $717±5, US $5,725±12, US $12,880 and above For all other visitors US $5, US $5,001±40, US $40,001±90, US $90,001 and above Country of residence HtR %) RsR %) ReR %) Mainland China Taiwan South and Southeast Asia North Asia Europe, Africa, Middle East North and South America Australia & New Zealand No of days in trips HtR %) RsR %) ReR %) 1±2 days days ±5 days days and above

6 324 Xin Jin, Shanshan Qi, and Chia-Hao Chiang Table 1. Continued. Who are you travelling with? HtR %) RsR %) ReR %) Alone no yes Spouse no yes Boyfriend/girlfriend no yes Immediate family members no yes Other relatives no yes Friend/s no yes Business associates no yes Note: Hotel respondents HtR): N 5 361; restaurant respondents RsR): N 5 378; retail respondents ReR): N alone, followed by those travelling with a friend or friends) and those with business associates. Very few respondents in any of the sectors were travelling with relatives and boyfriends or girlfriends. The level of annual household income distinguished Mainland Chinese visitors from all other visitors. Whereas around 50% of all respondents, excluding Mainland Chinese visitors, had an annual household income over US $5001, less than 40% of the Mainland Chinese visitors had an annual household income over US $717. Service Attributes that Determine Overall Satisfaction Levels Parasuraman et al. 1988) developed SERVQUAL by which service quality is measured by the ``gap scores'' of the difference between expectations and performance. However, Cronin and Taylor 1992), who developed SERVPERF, argue that only performance influences consumer perceptions of service quality. Armstrong, Mok, Go and Chan 1997) find that overall evaluation of service quality is more a function of service performance, at least in a cross-cultural context. This study attempted both techniques with regression tests and the results support Cronin and Taylor's argument, that is, the evaluation of service quality is more a function of performance than a function of the difference between expectations and performance. Table 2 shows the performance attributes that influence visitor overall satisfaction in the three sectors under study. Certain commonalities were identified among the attributes that cast-weighted the overall satisfaction levels across the three sectors. First, cleanliness was an important service attribute in the hotel and restaurant sectors. The appearance, cleanliness, and tidiness of staff in restaurants, the hygiene and cleanliness of restaurants, and pleasant, clean, and comfortable hotel rooms all had significant impacts on service quality perceptions. Second, the proper attitude of frontline staff, including politeness, patience, and attentiveness,

7 Table 2. Results of Regression Analysis ± Service Attributes for the Perceptions of Overall Satisfaction Levels. Hotel Services Retail services Restaurant services ** p, Dependent Variable Multiple R R Adjusted R Visitors' Overall Satisfaction Levels Std. Error F ratio Sig. F Variables in the equation Beta t Pleasant, clean & comfortable guest room 0.434** Prompt service upon request 0.357** Multiple R R Adjusted R Std. Error F ratio Variable in the equation Beta t Sig. F Pleasant shopping environment 0.244** Proper attitude of sales staff polite, patient and attentive without being too intrusive) 0.216** Promptness and professionalism when dealing with complaints 0.288** Goodnessof-fit Goodnessof-fit Goodnessof-fit Multiple R R Adjusted R Std. Error F ratio Variable in the equation Beta t Sig. F Hygiene and cleanliness of restaurants, including toilets 0.112** Good selection and quality of foods/dishes in restaurants 0.275** Appearance, cleanliness and tidiness of staff 0.126** Proper attitude of frontline staff polite, patient and attentive) 0.314** Journal of China Tourism Research 325

8 326 Xin Jin, Shanshan Qi, and Chia-Hao Chiang Figure 1. Results of importance-performance analysis - hotel services. cast-weighted the overall satisfaction levels in the retail and restaurant services. It is interesting to note that the proper attitude of hotel staff did not greatly affect overall satisfaction with hotel services. The mean score of this performance attribute in the hotel sector 4.17) was higher than that in the retail sector 4.01) or restaurant sector 3.91), and one possible explanation for this outcome is that consumers took the good attitude of hotel staff for granted and were concerned more with other service attributes, such as prompt service upon request, when evaluating satisfaction. The attribute of good selection and quality of dishes was found to significantly affect satisfaction with restaurants. In the retail sector, a pleasant shopping environment and the promptness and professionalism of staff differentiated the satisfaction levels. Importance and Performance of Service Attributes Figure 1 illustrates the IPA results of hotel services in Hong Kong. Six hotel service factors fell into quadrant I: ``safety and security,'' ``qualified language and communication skills,'' ``proper attitude,'' ``efficient check-in/check-out procedure,'' ``prompt service upon request,'' and ``pleasant, clean and comfortable guest room.'' The service attribute of ``promptness and professionalism in handling complaints'' was deemed to be a very important service area by customers; however, the performance of this service was obviously unsatisfactory. Two service attributes, ``provision of professional business center service'' and ``provision of free transfer to and from the airport, train stations, or ferry terminals,'' were regarded as having both low importance and low performance. The attribute of ``appearance and tidiness of staff'' fell into quadrant II, indicating that hotels may be making too much effort in this area, which was perceived by visitors to be of moderately low importance. The IPA results showed that, generally speaking, Hong Kong hotel services were well performed; however, the comparatively high level of importance of

9 Journal of China Tourism Research 327 Figure 2. Results of importance-performance analysis - restaurant services. this service area perceived by visitors indicates that more effort should be made to improve promptness and professionalism when dealing with customer complaints. Figure 2 presents the IPA results of restaurant services in Hong Kong. Hong Kong restaurants achieved good performance in the following service areas: ``proper attitude of the frontline staff,'' ``provision of clear descriptions of dishes and prices on menus,'' ``convenient payment methods,'' ``prompt service upon request,'' and ``good selection and quality of foods/dishes in restaurants.'' However, quadrant IV indicates that urgent improvement is required in the area of ``the hygiene and cleanliness of restaurants, including toilets.'' Hong Kong restaurants also demonstrated poor service performance in the areas of ``pleasant dining environment,'' ``good language and communication skills of staff,'' ``adequate staff knowledge about ingredients and methods,'' and ``promptness and professionalism in handling complaints''; however, these service areas were considered less important by visitors. Lastly, three service attributes fell into quadrant II: ``appearance, cleanliness, and tidiness of staff,'' ``dishes arrived in optimal time,'' and ``convenient opening hours.'' The perceived performance of these services possibly surpassed their perceived importance. Figure 3 presents the IPA results of retail services in Hong Kong. Four service attributes fell into quadrant I: ``clear and accurate information on products and prices,'' ``convenient payment methods,'' ``proper attitude of sales staff,'' and ``prompt service upon request.'' The most poorly performed attribute, as against importance, was ``language and communication skills of sales.'' Consumers had high expectations in this service area; hence, Hong Kong retail stores should greatly strengthen the language and communication skills of their service staff. Three attributes fell into quadrant III, indicating low levels of performance: ``promptness and professionalism when dealing with complaints,'' ``product warranty, guarantee and return/refund by sales staff,'' and ``honesty of sales staff.''

10 328 Xin Jin, Shanshan Qi, and Chia-Hao Chiang Figure 3. Results of importance-performance analysis - retail services. The grand means of the perceived importance of the attributes for the hotel, restaurant, and retail sectors were 4.08, 4.31, and 4.11, respectively, and the corresponding grand means of their performance were 3.74, 3.52, and 3.59, respectively. This indicates that although most of these service attributes were deemed important by visitors, the performance of these services did not meet their expectations. Specifically, ``promptness and professionalism in handling complaints'' was perceived to be poorly performed in all three sectors; and whereas ``language and communication skills'' were perceived to be unsatisfactory in both the retail and restaurant sectors, in the hotel sector this service attribute was perceived to be satisfactory. As a whole, all three sectors have service strengths and weaknesses; however, the overall performance of the hotel sector seems to be more satisfactory than that of the other two sectors. Cross-Region and Cross-Sector Comparison of Service Satisfaction The respondents' places of domicile included seven different market regions, among which four were located in AsiaÐmainland China, Taiwan, South and Southeast Asia, and North AsiaÐand three in non-asian market regionsðeurope, Africa and the Middle East, the Americas, and Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific. ANOVA was conducted to test whether the group means of the overall service satisfaction perceived by respondents living in each market region differed. A post hoc test was used to compare the means of the satisfaction perceptions among respondents in the seven market regions in each of the three sectors. As shown in Table 3, there is a significant mean difference between certain non-asian and Asian market regions in the three sectors. Figure 4 presents the means plot, indicating the different levels of perceived overall service satisfaction of visitors whose place of domicile was in the seven market regions. As shown in Figure 4, the hotel sector enjoyed the highest perceived satisfaction, followed by the retail sector and restaurant sector. Compared with respondents living in Asia, those living in the non-asian market regions were clearly more

11 Table 3. Post Hoc Multiple Comparison Test Bonferroni). Sector Hotel Restaurant Retail Region of Respondent Mainland China Taiwan South and Southeast Asia Mainland China Taiwan South and Southeast Asia Taiwan Europe, Africa, Middle 2.404* 2.514* 2.627* East The Americas 2.574* 2.634* Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific 2.659* 2.719* 2.556* 2.557* 2.559* * The mean difference is significant at the.05 level. Journal of China Tourism Research 329

12 330 Xin Jin, Shanshan Qi, and Chia-Hao Chiang Figure 4. Perceived overall satisfaction of respondents living in different market regions. satisfied with the services provided by all three sectors during their stay in Hong Kong. However, the respondents living in Taiwan were apparently less satisfied with the services provided by any of the sectors. Also, the respondents whose place of domicile was in the market region of South and Southeast Asia had the least satisfaction with restaurant services among all, while those whose place of residence was in the market region of Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific seemed highly satisfied with the service provided by hotels in Hong Kong. The lower perceived satisfaction of respondents whose place of residence was in the Asian market regions could be a result of their cultural proximity to Hong Kong. The similar culture that exists in the host regions of these respondents to some extent reduced the attractiveness of the destination, which could then have lessened the level of satisfaction with such aspects as service encounters, dining experiences, and so on. However, this phenomenon of lower satisfaction among respondents living in Asia or the much higher satisfaction among respondents living in non-asian market regions) may also be explained by the effects of the different travel modes. It is believed that there are certain differences in trip characteristics between Asians and Westerners, one of which is travel pattern. Westerners seem to be more oriented towards travelling independently, whereas Asians seem less likely to do so. To verify this, further analyses were conducted. Mode of Travel and Market Region of Respondents Table 4 shows the results of the frequency test for the two types of travel mode and the seven market regions of respondents. In all three sectors, the number of independent travellers was much higher than that of tour travellers. Among the independent travellers, those whose place of residence was in the non-asian market regions showed a much greater preference to travel independently than did those living in the Asian market regions. Of those whose place of domicile was in the Americas, over 96% reported travelling independently. In contrast, nearly 40% of the

13 Table 4. Mode of Travel and Market Region of Respondents. Market Region of Respondent Asian Market Regions Non-Asian Market Regions Mode of Travel Sector Independent travel no. of visitors) All-inclusive tour package with tour guide no. of visitors) Mainland China Taiwan South and Southeast Asia North Asia Sub-total Europe, Africa, Middle East Australia, New The Americas Zealand, South Pacific Sub-total Total N Hotel N Restaurant N Retail Subtotal % of Total N Hotel N Restaurant N Retail * 3 81 Subtotal % of Total Total The asterisk *) means no response. Here, only one visitor did not respond to the question. Journal of China Tourism Research 331

14 332 Xin Jin, Shanshan Qi, and Chia-Hao Chiang Table 5. Perceptions of Overall Satisfaction Between Two Types of Travel Modes. Sector Respondents' Perceptions of Overall Satisfaction Mean) Mode of Travel Hotel Restaurant Retail Independent travel ) ) ) All-inclusive tour package w/tour ) ) ) guide t-value 2.240* 2.553* 2.873** ** t-test two-tail probability, 0.01; * t-test two-tail probability, 0.05; standard deviations are in parentheses. respondents living in mainland China joined in guided package tours to Hong Kong, followed closely by those living in north Asia 38.5%). Table 5 shows the results of using t-tests to compare the mean scores of the perceived overall satisfaction of respondents for the ``independent travel'' mode and ``all-inclusive tour package with tour guide'' mode. It was found that the respondents who travelled independently showed a higher satisfaction than those who joined allinclusive package tours. This is probably because independent travellers usually have a larger degree of freedom and generally have more flexibility to make their own travel decisions during their trips, unlike tour travellers, whose quality of travel depends to some degree on the quality of their tour guides. In this instance, independent travellers tend to achieve a higher level of satisfaction than tour travellers. From the results of the several tests conducted in this section, including comparing means, frequency tests, and t-tests, the major correlations between the perceived overall service satisfaction of respondents living in the Asian or non-asian market regions and the two types of travel modes used by respondents were disclosed. In all three sectors, the perceived overall satisfaction of individual travellers was higher than that of all-inclusive guided-tour travellers. This could in part explain why there was a higher level of overall perceived service satisfaction among respondents from the non-asian market regions. Conclusions and Implications This study has used several statistical analyses to evaluate service quality and satisfaction in three major sectors of the tourism industry in Hong Kong. Based on the regression analysis, the service attributes with significant relative impacts on visitor perceptions of overall satisfaction were identified, which included two items in the hotel sectorðfour in the restaurant sector and three in the retail sector. Higher service dissatisfaction is expected if these service aspects are not well performed, as all these items had high importance means. The performance of all service attributes in each of the three sectors was demonstrated with the IPA models. The Keep Up the Good Work quadrant of the hotel IPA model not only had the largest number of attributes in the same quadrant among all three IPA models, but was also the only to include one particular service attribute, that is, ``language and communication skills of staff.'' According to conventional wisdom, the communication skills and language abilities of the service agents in a destination are fairly important for most foreign travellers to enjoy a high quality of service, which could decisively affect the

15 Journal of China Tourism Research 333 perceived overall service satisfaction of travellers during their stay in a destination. The positive impact of this attribute in the hotel IPA model could also be related to the findings in the cross-sector and cross-region analyses, in which the hotel sector, as a whole, enjoyed the highest perceived overall service satisfaction among all three sectors. Thus, the implication for hotel management in Hong Kong is that they should maintain the good quality of the language and communication skills of their staff as any diminishing of quality in this particular area could dramatically affect the perceived satisfaction with hotel services of visitors during their stay in Hong Kong. The implication for the retail and restaurant sectors is that they should improve the language and communication skills of their staff through certain effective management approaches. Further, hotel management in Hong Kong should make more efforts to effectively improve the expertise of service agents and their speed and professionalism when dealing with customer complaints. Restaurants should make improving their hygiene and cleanliness a high priority, in addition to further improving promptness and professionalism in handling complaints, good language and communication skills, and pleasant dining environment. For the retail sector, efforts should be made to enhance the honesty level of staff and improve their language and communication skills. It should be noted that although some of the attributes fell into the low-priority quadrants, the mean scores of the importance of these attributes were rated well above 4.0 on a 5-point Likert-type scale. Thus, managing professionals should be cautious in identifying the low priority attributes. Cross-sector and cross-region analyses were conducted to detect demographic factors that could possibly affect perceived overall satisfaction across the sectors. It seems that the hotel sector was the sector with which respondents from all regions were most satisfied. This finding is consistent with the results of the IPA models, where hotel IPA figures captured the fewest attributes in the low-performance quadrants. However, respondents from the Americas, Australia, and the South Pacific had levels of satisfaction significantly different from those of respondents from Mainland China, Taiwan, and South and Southeast Asia. Hotel management should make plans to identify the hotel segments that are least satisfactory by the corresponding markets and work to improve the service quality of those segments. It is the same for the restaurant sector, as respondents from Europe also had levels of satisfaction with service quality significantly different from those of respondents from Mainland China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. Travel mode may have partly contributed to the differences in satisfaction levels in the two sectors. As identified in the cross-region and cross-travel mode analyses, the perceived overall service satisfaction of independent travellers was higher than that of tour-package travellers. In all three sectors, visitors whose place of domicile was in the non-asian market regions showed much higher service satisfaction than did those living in the Asian market regions, and a much higher percentage of the visitors living in the non-asian market regions were travelling independently to Hong Kong. Cultural proximity may also have caused differences. As visitors living in the Asian market regions were identified as having much less satisfaction with the quality of service provided by the three tourism sectors in Hong Kong than those living in the non-asian market regions, a common managerial implication to all three tourism sectors can be made. That is, significant efforts should be made to increase the quality of service provided to visitors whose place of domicile is in Asian market regions. With effort exerted in this particular area, visitor satisfaction with tourism-related services in Hong Kong should significantly improve, which could lead to positive customer behavioral

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