International tourists’ perceptions of hotels service quality in Lalibela town using importance performance analysis

Abstract

Quality service has become a serious issue among scholars in the hotel industry. This arises due to the fact that operators of the industry still find it difficult to understand what a customer’s needs are at a particular time. The purpose of this study is to examine international tourists’ perceptions of hotels service quality. An Importance-Performance Analysis technique was used to determine the importance tourists assign to salient attributes and to assess their perception with the hotels’ performance on each of the attributes. As a foundation for questionnaire development, the SERVQUAL model was used. However, the original items were slightly modified to suit to the specific features of a hotel setting. The study was conducted in Lalibela town with the participation of larger mid-range hotels because these hotels are less fragmented and exhibit higher levels of competition as majority of international tourists lodge in those hotels. The results showed that, tourists’ perceptions of service quality provided were consistently lower than their expected importance. Moreover, managers overestimated the service delivery, compared to tourists’ perceptions of actual service quality. This means that there is room for continuous improvement. Thus, hotel operators must continuously provide more intricate service standards to enhance the satisfaction of tourists; otherwise, it will adversely affect the willingness of tourists to stay at hotels and lower corporate profit in the short run and weaken the destination’s competitiveness in the long run.