Determinants of Satisfaction with Holidays and Hospitality in Rural Tourism in Spain

An analysis of travelers’ satisfaction with a holiday trip to Spain’s Andalusia region found a distinct difference in the information sources used by first-time visitors and repeat visitors. In addition to determining the travelers’ satisfaction with the trip itself, this study also assessed the travelers’ satisfaction with the travel-related information they received before taking their trip. The framework for the study was a rural tourist trip, a little studied area. Repeat visitors relied primarily on their own experience in terms of expectations for their trips, and any external information sources they consulted had no effect on their satisfaction with the trip. Of the several external sources consulted by the first-time visitors, only mass-media advertising was associated with favorable satisfaction results for the first-timers. Other sources, including word of mouth, the internet, and noncommercial media placements (such as news stories), were associated with negative effects on satisfaction, perhaps because these sources created unrealistic expectations. Destination promotions attracted both new and returning visitors, but again the two groups had different views on which types of promotion were most effective. First-time travelers responded primarily to price discounts in some form, whereas repeat travelers were more inclined toward such nonprice promotions as gifts and prize drawings. For hospitality and tourism officials, the findings focus on the need to ensure that information sources are accurate and create appropriate expectations for first-time travelers. This may require more activity in social media, since internet sources apparently created incorrect expectations or simply offered the first-time travelers so much information that they felt overloaded.