TOURIST SATISFACTION WITH CULTURAL/HERITAGE SITES AT MADURAI

Transcription

1 TOURIST SATISFACTION WITH CULTURAL/HERITAGE SITES AT MADURAI DR.S.KUMARAN*; DR.R. KANNAN**; T.MILTON*** *PROFESSOR, FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, DR.MGR UNIVERSITY, CHENNAI. **ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT AND CATERING SCIENCE, MKU COLLEGE, MADURAI. ***HEAD, HOTEL AND CATERING MANAGEMENT, ASAN MEMORIAL COLLEGE, CHENNAI INTRODUCTION: Satisfaction or dissatisfaction is a final product of one s decision making process. To access the final product everyone has to travel a long journey which includes collection of information, evaluation and taking the final product every decision. This research paper is designed to give overview of some of the most important variables which are road maps for an ideal tourism planning in order to make tourism decision effective. This paper aim to cover the feelings and understanding of the value of the stay such as knowledge and experience gained, value of the destination, worth of each rupee spent and overall view about the destination. It also covers the decision making process in visiting destination, how the s expectation are met out, how they feel about destination and whether they can recommend this destination to their friends and relatives. An attempt has been made to assess the level of satisfaction of s about the destination, which include climate, local people, tour operator, infrastructure facilities like road, transport, traffic, tourism information etc. This aspect helps the tourism planner and local government to take strategic measures to improve the tourism business. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate feelings and understanding of value of the stay. To find out the feelings of about the destination To find out the general satisfaction of the s about the destination. EVALUATION OF FEELINGS AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE VALUE OF STAY CA Completely Agree, A Agree, MA- Moderately Agree, DA Disagree, CDA Completely Disagree. Feelings and understanding of the value of stay were evaluated by getting feedback on the statements like Overall staying in this destination has been very valuable, Gained a lot of new knowledge and experiences in this destination, Feel good in this destination, Staying at this destination is worth every rupee paid, It gives me sense of joy that I have decided to come to this destination, Delighted about this destination and Met interesting and nice people in this destination. From the analysis it is found that the Overall, staying in this destination has been very valuable scored 428 points, Feel good in this destination scored 62

2 Rank Total Total No. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing & Management Review ISSN points, Gained a lot of new knowledge and experiences in this destination scored 404 points, It gives me sense of joy that I have decided to come to this destination scored 400 points, Staying at this destination is worth every Rupee paid and Delighted about this destination scored each 388 points and Met interesting and nice people in this destination scored 308 points. TABLE 1 VALUE OF THE STAY AT DESTINATION Value of the stay at Destination CA(5) A (4) MA (3) DA (2) CDA (1) Particulars Overall, staying in this destination has been very valuable Gained a lot of new knowledge and experiences in this destination Feel good in this destination Staying at this destination is worth every Rupee paid It gives me sense of joy that I have decided to come to this destination Delighted about this destination Met interesting and nice people in this destination

3 Rank Total Total No. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing & Management Review ISSN From the table, it is observed that the s expressed staying in this destination is very valuable. They also gained good knowledge about the destination. They felt good and every rupee paid in this destination is worth. They are delighted about this destination and decided to come again and again in future. AGREE WITH THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS CA Completely Agree, A Agree, MA- Moderately Agree, DA Disagree, CDA Completely Disagree. The s have given their consent about the destination for the statement like I am pleased that I decided to visit this destination, The visit to this destination exceeded my expectations, I will recommend this destination to my friends and colleagues and I feel at home in this destination. The statement I am pleased that I decided to visit this destination scored highest points 420, followed by The visit to this destination exceeded my expectations scored 356 points I will recommend this destination to my friends and colleagues scored 354 points, and I feel at home in this destination scored 344 points. TABLE 2 AGREE WITH STATEMENTS Agree with statements CA(5) A (4) MA (3) DA (2) CDA (1) Particulars I am pleased that I decided to visit this destination The visit to this destination exceeded my expectations I will recommend this destination to my friends and colleagues I feel at home in this destination

4 From the table it is observed that the s have agreed that the destination exceeded their expectation and they will recommend this destination to their friends and relatives and colleagues. GENERAL SATISFACTION ABOUT TOURIST DESTINATION: HS Highly Satisfied, S Satisfied, MS Moderately Satisfied DS Dissatisfied HDS Highly Dissatisfied General satisfaction about destination was asked to the respondents on climate, local people, tour operator, infrastructure facilities like road, transport, traffic, tourism information etc. The respondents given their view as From the respondents view on satisfaction about destination, the historical and cultural heritage scored highest points 424 followed by Catering services scored 420 points, Accommodation scored 418 points, Kindness of tour operators scored 392 points, Availability of tour operators scored 388 points, Amusement scored 386 points, Climate scored 380 points, Kindness of the local people scored 376 points, Overall rating of what this place has to offer as a destination and shops scored 368 points, Tourism information in your chosen destination scored 364 points, Road links and quality-price ratio scored 356 and 354 points respectively, Events scored 344 points, Souvenirs and Pedestrain area scored each 352 points, Parks and green areas scored 344 points, Car parks scored 308 points and Tour operators communication skill scored 328 points and Local traffic scored 308 points. 65

5 Rank Total Total No. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing & Management Review ISSN TABLE 3 Tourism destination - Satisfaction HS(5) S (4) MS (3) DS (2) HDS(1) Particulars Climate Kindness of the local people Kindness of the tour operators Availability of tour operators Tour operators communication skill Road links Local traffic Car parks Tourism information in your chosen destination Events Souvenirs Pedestrian area Parks and green areas Historical-cultural heritage Shops Accommodation Catering services Amusement Quality price ratio Overall rating of what this place has to offer as a destination

6 From the table it is understood that the s are very much satisfied about the Historical places, food, accommodation and kindness of the tour operator.. They felt satisfied about the climate and kindness of the local people. Most of the Tourists have dissatisfied about the tour operators communication skill, road links, local traffic, car parks, pedestrian area. Parks and green area and Quality-price ratio. FINDINGS: Majority of the s expressed staying in this destination is very valuable. They also gained good knowledge about the destination. They felt good and every rupee paid in this destination is worth. They are delighted about this destination and decided to come again and again in future. Majority of the s have agreed that the destination exceeded their expectation and they will recommend this destination to their friends and relatives and colleagues. Majority of the s are very much satisfied about the Historical places, food, accommodation and kindness of the tour operator. Most of the s felt satisfied about the climate and kindness of the local people. Most of the Tourists have dissatisfied about the tour operators communication skill, road links, local traffic, car parks, pedestrian area. Parks and green area and Quality-price ratio. SUGGESTIONS: As Madurai area is famous for authentic foods such as Chettinadu, the tourism department can think of starting ethnic food restaurants. Food is not hygienic in local restaurants and needs improvement in Sanitation. Tourist places are not clean and they should be maintained well by the Madurai corporation. Thirumalai Naickar mahal has to be maintained well. Visitors to mahal are spoiling the walls by embossing their names and spoiling such great monument. Meenakshi temple should be illuminated still better with suitable lights to make more attractive during night. English and other knowledge among guides is not satisfactory. Professional training can be arranged to the guides so that the salient features of the temple city may be expressed to the domestic and international s. Traffic and parking facilities have to be maintained well. Safety and security for s have to be provided. Local transport is good. Name board should be in English also. 67

7 More number of trains during day time may be introduced from Madurai to various destinations. More number of Budget Hotels with a Room Tariff of Rs.1000 Rs.1500 may be constructed to meet the needs of Tourists of middle income groups. Madurai Railway Station will have the facility of Yatri Nivas type of supplementary accommodation to Rail passengers shortly. Such Yatri Nivas type of accommodation may be built in other Tourist places such as Thirupparankundram, Alagarkovil etc., Introduction of Flights from Madurai to Destinations such as Kolkatta, Goa and Trivandrum & increase of frequency of Domestic Flights to New Delhi, Mumbai, Cochin and Bangalroe will also satisfy the needs of Domestic Tourists. CONCLUSION: Customer satisfaction depends upon the expectations and perceptions. In this study, various elements like value of stay at destination, destination environment, and kindness of hospitality, infrastructure facilities and other services were analysed. From the analysis it is concluded that the visitors satisfied about the destination and services provided to s despite certain shortfall. Few suggestions have been given by the s in order to improve the customer satisfaction. By effectively implementing the suggestions provided by the visitors, it will not only improve the s satisfaction but also increase the local revenue. References: 1. BRUKERT, A.J. AND MEDLIK.S, The Management of Tourism, William Heinmann Ltd. London, BHATIA, A.K., International Tourism Management, Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, CHARLES KAISER AND LARRY, E. HELBER, Tourism Planning and Development, CBI Publishing Co.Inc.,Beston, CHRISCOOPER, JOHN FLETCHER, DAVID GILBERT AND STEPHEN WANHILL, Tourism (Principles and Practice), Pitman Publishing, London, MALHOTRA P.K., Tourism Marketing, Anmoll Publications Pvt., New Delhi, SINGH RATANDEEP, Infrastructure of Tourism in India Kanishka Publishers, Distributors, New Delhi, K.K.SHARMA, Tourism and Development Sarup and sons, New Delhi, HOLLOWAY, The Business of Tourism, Longman Limited, New York, BADAN, B.S., Impact of Tourism in South India, Common Wealth Publishers, New Delhi, BHATIA, A.K., Tourism Development, Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, BEZBARUAH, Indian Tourism Industry Gyan Publishing House, New Delhi, Websites: