Scales to measure and benchmark service quality in tourism industry: A second-order factor approach

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate scales to measure and benchmark service quality (SQ) in tourism industry. Design/methodology/approach - The second-order confirmatory factor analysis is employed to validate the instrument. SQ dimensions have been modeled which have significant impact on customer satisfaction (CS) separately from those which do not have a significant impact. Findings - Hospitality, food, logistics, security, and value for money have significant impact on satisfaction, while amenities, core-tourism experience, hygiene, fairness of price, information centers, culture, distractions, personal information, and pubs do not have a significant impact. Research limitations/implications - The above pattern may be different in a different destination, and in a different context. However, a major implication of the current findings is that a destination need not have natural cutting edges to be developed as a tourist destination. A destination with good logistics and assurance for security, value for money, impressive hospitality and food, can satisfy a customer. Practical implications - The scale which has been developed by us will be useful for destination managers to measure the SQ perceptions of tourists and benchmark destinations. The distinction of SQ dimensions with and without the impact on CS could enable a manager to manage these two sets of factors separately. Originality/value - Unlike previous works, SQ has been modeled in tourism as a second-order factor, which appears to be a more appropriate approach. The authors have also modeled factors with and without significant impact on satisfaction separately, and the approach does not seem to have precedence in literature. The inclusion of the factor, "Fairness of Price" is also a new contribution to literature. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.