Satisfaction to Compete? Proposal of a Model for Health and Wellness Tourism Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • The main objective of this research was to develop an index to assess the perceived value of tourism services at the level of customer satisfaction by applying it in the context of health and wellness tourism. Methodology: Using exploratory factorial analysis (EFA), the model’s constructs were identified, and the satisfaction index of thermal customers was estimated. This method was applied to a set of data collected through a questionnaire distributed to users from thermal spa of Chaves, Portugal, through probabilistic sampling. A total of 107 participants were obtained, with a response ratio of 53.5%. Results: Participants expressed a high level of satisfaction due to the perceived quality of various services offered, including the infrastructure and technical team. The satisfaction index of the technical team is higher than that of the infrastructures and services provided, representing the highest contribution rate to the global model. Limitations: As limitations, other variables that influence customer satisfaction could have been included, such as prices, emotional components, and corporate social responsibility. Furthermore, only customer satisfaction in a particular thermal establishment was analysed. Future academics studies can compare the model with other establishments and/or contexts, identifying critical points and strategies to continuously improve customer satisfaction. Practical implications: By establishing a thermal customer satisfaction index, tourism authorities and the different economic agents can obtain objective information on the results of thermal services. Tourism managers can thus set goals for improvement, competitiveness, and loyalty. Originality: This study's unique contribution lies in how thermal customer satisfaction index or indicators are easily measured by applying EFA. A new approach is used to measure satisfaction based on a scale from 0 to 100%. The index results are very useful for making decisions on resource allocation and comparing different thermal establishments compared to traditional techniques.
  • This article is a result of the project "GreenHealth - Digital strategies in biological assets to improve well-being and promote green health" (Norte-01-0145-FEDER-000042), supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)". The authors are grateful to the FCT Portugal for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to UNIAG, under Project n. UIDB/04752/2020 and UIDP/04752/2020

publication date

  • June 2023