Tourists’ Satisfaction with a Destination: An Investigation on Visitors to Langkawi Island

Abstract

This study attempts to investigate the antecedents of tourist satisfaction. The focus of the study is Langkawi Island, a well-known tourist destination in Malaysia. Questionnaires were distributed to 500 tourists in Langkawi Island. Descriptive statistic, factor analysis and multiple regressions were run on the 482 useable data. The results indicate that 295 (61.2%) of the respondents were repeat visitors and the remaining 187(38.8%) were first-timers. More than half (56.8%) of the respondents had high levels of satisfaction with the mean items score of 3.90 and above. When factor analysis was run, seven factors emerged from the 33 items used to measure the contructs. Apart from tourist expectations, perceived quality, destination image, cost and risks, and perceived value, a new variable known as social-security was identified as a predictor. Regression analysis revealed that destination image, tourist expectations, costs and risks, and social-security have positive and significant influence on tourist satisfaction. Social-security was found to be the most important predictor of tourist satisfaction, followed by tourist expectations, destination image, and costs and risks. The findings of this study could provide guidelines for tourism managers and destination operators to further develop better strategies to satisfy travellers to Langkawi.