Service quality of tourism products and visitor’s satisfaction in aksum town, tigrai, Ethiopia

Tourism is a fast growing industry. It has paramount contributions in the economy of a nation. However, without the consideration of the quality of tourism products such as accessibilities, accommodations, attractions, amenities and activities/entertainment facilities, tourism cannot adequately yield the desired outcomes. This paper attempted specifically to gauge the service quality of the accessibility services, amenities, attraction site facilities, accommodation and activities/entertainment facilities. This research paper employed descriptive type of research with qualitative approach. The subjects of study were inbound tourists visiting Aksum tourist destination. Questionnaire, FGD (Focused Group Discussion) and participant observation are among instruments for primary sources of data collection and secondary sources of data were accessed via document review. Sample is selected based on non-probability sampling particularly purposive/judgmental technique. The total numbers of the respondents were 400 and out of them 395 respondents respond the questionnaire. The researcher employed field editing, pre-coding coding and the gathered data were analyzed using SPSS (statistical package for social science) version 16. Based on the finding, tourists are dissatisfied by the quality of the accessibility/transportation access at the attraction sites, poor medical care in case of emergency and also they are highly dissatisfied by poor availability and quality of sporting facilities, recreational activities and cultural events which should display the heritage of people of the tourist destination. Furthermore, the inbound tourists found unacceptable/poor state of art technology and equipment in the service delivery at the attraction sites. The tourist destination personnel at accessibility/transportation found to respond tourist’s requests in quick, assistance, pleasant and friendly manner. Consumers are highly satisfied with the safety and security provision to the tourists at the amenities. Besides, they are comfortable with appealing nature of the accommodation at the destination with their pleasant and friendly personnel. Furthermore, customers found the attraction site entrance fee very cheap and acceptable accessibility quality-price ratio. However, they are highly dissatisfied with regard to the amenities quality- Price ratio. The researcher recommends upgrading the accessibility facilities in order to offer opportunities for disabled tourist. Upgrading build environment and capacity building training programs for staff available at accessibility services, accommodation services, amenities, attraction sites facilities and activities/entertainments.