engleski

Interrelations between the quality of facilities and visitor satisfaction: evidence from heritage based event – Rijeka carnival

Organizing a heritage-based tourist event is a comprehensive and extremely demanding task for both the event organizer and the destination management. The overall success of the event is associated with many elements of the tourist product with special emphasis on the quality of the organization and the related level of satisfaction of the needs and desires of visitors. This paper examines the basic relationships of selected elements of recognition and quality of facilities: recognition/image (before arrival), access to information, quality of event organization, originality, interest and quality of interpretation with regard to the general level of satisfaction with the visit. Empirical research was conducted by the method of interviewing on a sample of 351 respondents/holders during tourist events based on heritage – Rijeka Carnival, which is of extreme importance for the Croatian tourist offer. Data are presented using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (regression analysis, ANOVA, and Spearman correlation coefficient). The results indicate a significant correlation between a higher level of visitor´s overall satisfaction with the visit, who value more recognizability/Image (before arrival), availability of information and originality of the event. Additional tests were performed on the relationships of the observed variables. By using Spearman's correlation coefficient, the highest correlations were registered between the variables: availability of information and quality of information / propaganda materials as well as recognizability/Image (before arrival) and availability of information. These findings confirm the importance of constant monitoring the satisfaction of event visitors as well as raising the elements of quality in order to improve the tourist offer. The authors offered guidelines for the benefit of event organizers and destination management in order to achieve the desired positive effects and ensure their competitiveness.

tourism events ; quality of facilities ; visitor satisfaction

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