12
The Effects of E-Service Quality Dimensions on Tourist’s e-Satisfaction
International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Systems
Volume 9 Issue 1 June 2016
ISSN: 0947-6250 Print
©Copyright IJHTS
® Exclusive Marketing Rights: Publishing India Group
The Effects of E-Service Quality Dimensions on
Tourist’s e-Satisfaction
Mohammed Ezzat Mohammed*, Ghada Mohamed Wafik**,
Sabreen Gaber Abdel Jalil***, Yehia Abu El Hassan****
Abstract E-service quality has become an essential input for achieving the customer’s satisfaction in online environment. This study
aims to develop research model to assess the quality of e-tourism services and tourist’s satisfaction toward the websites of the Egyptian travel
agencies. Additionally, it seeks to identify the dimensions of e-tourism service quality and its impact on tourists’ e-satisfaction of such travel
agents. Collecting 170 online questionnaire forms from tourists in Egypt, the findings revealed that the dimensions of e-tourism service quality
are positively affecting tourists’ e-satisfaction. Particularly, interactivity and reliability have the greatest contribution to e-satisfaction, versus
customer service and privacy having the lowest. The demographic characteristics have influenced the customers’ perception of e-tourism
service quality and e-satisfaction of travel agents’ websites.
Keywords:
E-tourism Service Quality, E-satisfaction, E-tourism, Egyptian Travel Agents
INTRODUCTION
E-service quality is a crucial factor determines the success
or failure of the e-commerce for two reasons. First, it is
affecting customers’ satisfaction and online shopping
intentions. Second, it is a preferred tool pulling potential
shoppers (Nosrati, 2008, p. 16).
The success of tourism organizations would increasingly
depend on sensing and responding to the rapidly changeable
customer’ requirements, employing Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs) for delivering the right
product at the right time, and the right price for the right
customer. Customer satisfaction is basically regarded as an
essential factor that impacts long-term relationships between
firms and consumers in both the traditional and e-commerce
business environments. Measuring Electronic satisfaction as
a concept has recently gained an increased importance in the
marketing literature.
*
**
***
****
Many of the Egyptian travel agents have designed websites
in order to allow customers to book and reserve their services
and options online. Such websites are regarded as one main
distribution channel connecting travel agents with tourists.
Understanding the customers’ needs have become crucial at
competitive markets. Therefore, Egyptian travel agents have
moved from a product-centric to a customer-centric position.
Moreover, they are obliged to achieve tourists’ satisfaction
by providing high quality e-tourism services for tourists.
The total number of Egyptian travel agents category ‘A’
is 1392 (Egyptian Travel Agents Guide, 2012). Category
‘A’ travel agents presents all the tourist services such as
reservation air flights, accommodations, sightseeing, renting
different buses or cars and organize local and international
tours. Only 492 (36%) of these travel agents have their own
website (Egyptian Travel Agents Guide, 2012). This figure
shows that most Egyptian travel agents are at the first stage
in adopting e-tourism in their business, because a wide range
of those (about 64%) didn’t have a website. Moreover, many
Lecturer, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Minia University, Egypt.
Assistant Professor, Departmnet of Tourism Studies Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Fayoum University, Egypt.
Email : gmw00@fayoum.edu.eg
Assistant Prof., Tourism Studies, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Minia University, Egypt.
President, IOETI (International Organization for the Electronic Tourism Industry)
Mohammed Ezzat Mohammed, Ghada Mohamed Wafik, Sabreen Gaber Abdel Jalil, Yehia Abu El Hassan
of those having a website merely mention information about
the company and its services and products, but they do not
provide online transactions features (Shehawy, 2010, p.366;
Abou-Shouk and Lim, 2010, pp.357-366).
Egyptian travel agents should consider tourists’ satisfaction
and how the customers assess e-tourism service quality.
Consequently, the significance and the objectives of the study
are developing a new model for assessing the electronic
tourism services quality and tourists’ satisfaction toward the
Egyptian travel agencies websites.
Hence, the main objective of the study is to understand the
dimensions of e-tourism service quality and its impact on
tourists’ satisfaction of the Egyptian travel agents websites.
In addition, the study attempts to answer the following
questions: what are the most important dimensions of
e-tourism service quality of Egyptian travel agencies
websites?, what is (are) the effect(s) of the electronic
tourism service’s quality dimensions of the planned model
on electronic satisfaction of tourists in Egypt?
LITERATURE REVIEW
E-Services Quality (E-SQ)
Zeithaml et al. (2002, p.363) introduced the concept of
electronic service quality (e-SQ), which is defined as “the
extent to which a website facilitates efficient and effective
shopping, purchasing and delivery of products and services”.
Such definition includes a complete customer service
experience throughout the stages of the online shopping
process (Nosrati, 2008), in addition to a pre-website, an onwebsite and a post-website service aspects (Zeithaml et al.,
2002). According to Santos (2003, cited in, Nosrati, 2008,
p.36), e-service quality can be defined as “the customer’s
overall evaluation and judgment of the excellence and
quality of e-service offerings in the virtual market place”.
The significance of the e-service quality is strongly related to
the customer’s satisfaction, retention and loyalty. Therefore,
it is estimated to be a determinant of success not only in a
conventional environment, but also in an online environment
(Wolfinbarger and Gilly, 2003, p. 190). Moreover, e-service
quality potentially increases attractiveness, hit rate, customer
preservation, adhesiveness, and positive word of mouth.
Additionally, it can maximize the competitive advantages
of electronic commerce (Santos, 2003). E-service quality
is significant for two reasons. Firstly, it greatly influences
the customers’ satisfaction and intention to shop online.
Secondly, it is critical in attracting potential customers
(Nosrati, 2008, p. 16).
Tourism as a particular service industry constantly strives
toward delivering quality customer service. Realizing the
popularity of the Internet as a place for communication and
13
shopping amongst travelers, tourism exploits it to create
and deliver customer value and quality customer service in
the online marketspace. Indeed, it became one of the major
concerns of tourism practitioners and marketers (Sigala and
Sakellaridis, 2004).
Tourism E-Services
Some e-services can be strongly linked with online customer
satisfaction, and as a result with a website’s ability to
satisfy online customers’ needs. The selection of available
e-services is huge such as, company info, product info,
chat/customer forum/guestbook, tourism information,
direct links, online order tracking, product personalization,
website interaction, online reservation & payment, website
map, location features, local search engine, user-friendly
interface, personal info storage, website customization,
mailing list subscription, browser efficiency/friendliness,
safety & security information, multimedia and customized
product search. (Iliachenko, 2006 a, p.58).
The most significant e-tourism services as professed by
potential tourism service buyers are: Tourism information,
Product information, Online reservation and payment, Safety
and security, Modified product search, Website interaction
and direct links (Iliachenko, 2006 b).
Models for Measuring E-Tourism Service Quality
Several conceptual models have been developed to help
assess the electronic service quality and the factors affecting
consumers’ perceptions. This section reviews some of the
well-known models used to measure electronic service
quality.
E-SERVQUAL Model: E-SERVQUAL is a conceptual
model for measuring electronic service quality. It comprises
two scales: a core e-SERVQUAL scale and a recovery
e-SERVQUAL scale, represented by four and three
dimensions respectively. A Core e-SERVQUAL scale is
employed to measure the customers’ perceptions of service
quality delivered by online retailers. It has four dimensions:
efficiency, reliability, fulfillment, and privacy (Zeithaml et
al, 2002, p.362).
E-S-QUAL Model: E-S-QUAL is utilized for measuring the
service quality delivered by web sites on which customers
shop online. The basic E-S-QUAL scale is a 22-item scale
covering four dimensions: efficiency, fulfillment, system
availability, and privacy. The second scale, E-RecS-QUAL,
is designed to suit only to customers who had non-routine
encounters with the sites and contains 11 items in three
dimensions: responsiveness, compensation, and contact.
(Parasuraman et al, 2005, p.7).
14
The Effects of E-Service Quality Dimensions on Tourist’s e-Satisfaction
Swaid and Wigand’s Model: Swaid and Wigand (2007, p.7)
developed a research model that examines the relationships
among the dimensions of e-service quality and customers’
satisfaction and loyalty intentions. This model consists of
six dimensions and 29 items, these dimensions are: Website
usability, Information quality, Reliability, Responsiveness,
Assurance and Personalization
E-Travel Service Quality Scale: Ho and Lee (2007) has
successfully constructed a scale that can measure and
evaluate e-travel service quality and to test the relationship
between service quality, satisfaction and behavioral loyalty.
This scale has five dimensions and 18 items to assess e-travel
service quality. The dimensions are; Information Quality,
Security, Website Functionality, Customer relationships and
Responsiveness. (Ho and Lee, 2007)
E-Service Quality Model: Hongxiu et al.’s (2009, p.2)
study examined e-service quality dimensions at the Internet
market, focusing on online travel service. The purpose of
the present study was to develop a scale in order to evaluate
e-service quality of online travel companies in China.
Consequently, they proposed an e-service quality model that
comprises nine dimensions; Ease of use, Website design,
Reliability, System availability, Privacy, Responsiveness,
Empathy, Experience, Trust
Tourism Websites E-SQ Scale (MONC scale): Iliachenko
(2006 a) conducted a study aiming to develop a scale for
assessing E-Service quality of tourism websites. The scale
contains four dimensions and 18 items, these dimensions
were as follows: Interactivity, Website design, Information
and Technical (Iliachenko, 2006 a, p.113).
Electronic Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction has been recognized as a significant
factor affecting long-term relationships between firms
and customers in both traditional and electronic business
environments. Measuring Electronic satisfaction as a
concept has gained an increased importance in the marketing
literature in recent times.
Customer satisfaction in the online marketspace is defined as
a “ long-term, developing construct influenced by customers’
e-service expectations and quality perceptions changing over
time, based on new consumer experience and knowledge”
(Iliachenko, 2006, p.12). Moreover, E-Satisfaction is defined
as the ‘’ contentment of a customer with respect to his or
her prior purchasing experience with a given electronic
commerce firm” (Anderson & Srinivasan, 2003).
There are many factors that affect tourists’ satisfaction
toward travel agencies websites and online travel agencies
such as: Information Factor, Technology and Usability
Factors, - Price Factor, Convenience Factor and Brand
Name Factor (Cho and Agrusa, 2006, p.186). Several items
and factors are critical for customers to evaluate service
quality and satisfaction. The first important attribute is
prompting order execution and confirmation, which requires
adequate system capacity as well as staff support. The
second important aspect is accuracy of the online trading
system, including accurate order fulfillment, accurate record
keeping. The third important aspect is the accessibility of
the web site. The fourth important aspect is e-mail response,
besides traditional communication means such as phone
calls, online customers are particularly longing for prompt
response to their inquiries and prompt confirmation through
e-mail. Finally, transaction security and personal information
privacy are major concerns for online customers (Yang and
Fang, 2004).
Models for Measuring E-Satisfaction in the
Tourism Industry
There are many researches who contributed in this field.
They developed scales for measuring e-service quality and
e-satisfaction particularly in the tourism and hospitality
industry.
Weber et al.’s Model: They developed a model for measuring
online satisfaction and online loyalty of customers in the
hospitality industry. This model has five dimensions and
15 items. These dimensions include: User Interface, Online
Resources, Customer Confidence, Relationship Services and
Perceived Value (Weber et al., 2006, p.455).
Kim et al.’s Scale: Kim et al.’s (2006) study aimed to
identify the determinants affecting Chinese hotel customers’
online reservation intentions and to assess their satisfaction
with online hotel reservation. This scale encompasses six
dimensions: Information Needs, Service Performance and
Reputation, Convenience, Price Benefits, Technological
Inclination and Safety (Kim et al., 2006).
E-Satisfaction Model: Masoomeh (2006) developed a model
to measure the electronic satisfaction in tourism industry.
The model is called e-satisfaction model and has five aspects,
which affect satisfaction in online purchasing. Such aspects
are: Convenience, Product Offering, Product Information,
Site design and financial security.
Relationship between E-Service Quality and
Customer Satisfaction
In terms of time and sequence, service quality takes place
before, and leads to overall customer satisfaction. Service
quality has been found to be an important input to customer
satisfaction not only in traditional environment, but also
in online environment (Caruana & Malta 2002). Service
Mohammed Ezzat Mohammed, Ghada Mohamed Wafik, Sabreen Gaber Abdel Jalil, Yehia Abu El Hassan
quality is the most important purchase decision factor
influencing the customers’ buying decisions. Customer
satisfaction is determined by defining customer perceptions
of quality, expectations, and preferences. In other words,
“satisfaction, or lack of it, is the difference between how a
customer expects to be treated and how he or she perceives
being treated” (Bozorgi, 2007, p. 34).
To attain true customer satisfaction, companies need to
achieve quality not only by eliminating the causes for direct
complains, but they also need to provide their products
with excellent, attractive quality - to delight the customer.
Therefore, research on customer satisfaction is often
closely associated with the measurement of service quality
(Anderson and Sullivan, 1993).
A number of academics have tried to identify key
determinants by which a customer assesses electronic service
quality and, consequently, satisfaction may or may not result.
Parasuraman et al. (1985, p.43) suggested that service quality
influences customers’ satisfaction. Similarly, several studies
found that specific website e-services can positively affect
customers’ satisfaction with a website and online purchasing
on the long run (Khalifa and Shen, 2005). Shneiderman
(1998) discussed the subjective satisfaction of a user with the
use of Information technology (IT). Shneiderman suggested
that a user’s subjective satisfaction is influenced by different
perceived quality characteristics of the technology, such as
ease of use and usefulness. Wolfmbarger and Gilly (2003)
found that different dimensions of their measure of e-service
quality have varying effects on customer satisfaction, such
as reliability, fulfillment and responsiveness. Yang and
Fang (2004) identified online service quality dimension
and its relationship with satisfaction. Such service quality
dimensions are reliability, responsiveness, ease of use,
competence.
To conclude, “perceived service quality comes first in
importance , then satisfaction with quality and the value
of this given quality. Accordingly, such perceived service
quality can be viewed as a concept for the understanding
of how to develop services, on one hand. On the other
hand, customer satisfaction is a concept for the evaluating
how successfully these services are fulfilling the needs and
desires of customers” (Grönroos, 1998, p. 330).
As a result, the ability to accurately measure consumers’
online satisfaction and experiences to constantly meet
consumers’ needs and to develop customized online
marketing strategies will be essential for improving online
service quality (Steinbauer, 2006, p.1).
Conceptual Model and Hypotheses Development
The main purpose of the current study is to develop a new
model (scale) to assess the electronic satisfaction of tourists
15
toward the tourism services of the Egyptian travel agents
websites and the quality of these services. A proposed
model was developed and designed to achieve the purposes
and objectives of this study. The proposed model is called
E-TourServQual Model
The model was developed in three steps:
First step: The first step of developing the E-Tour Serv Qual
Model was based on the other and previous contributions of
many authors who developed many scales and models in the
topic, such as that of E-SERVQUAL Model (Zeithaml et al.,
2002), E-S-QUAL Model (Parasuraman et al., 2005), Swaid
and Wigand Model (2007), E-Travel Service Quality Scale
(Ho and Lee, 2007), and E-Service Quality Model (Hongxiu
et al., 2009).
Second step: After designing the model, it was evaluated
by some of the stakeholders in Egypt to review the model
items according to their requirements of the measurement
items. Such stakeholders included both the president and
e-marketing manager of Memphis Tours, and tourism
managers of both Bright Sky and Egypt Today Travel due to
their experience in e-travel service.
Third step: The proposed Model was discussed and judged
by several experts of e-tourism in the world and in Egypt.
Dimensions of the Developed Model
After the assessment that has been fulfilled by the experts of
e-tourism, the pre-proposed model consists of six dimensions
and 31 items. Such dimensions include efficiency, information
quality, interactivity (contact), customer service, reliability
and privacy (figure 1).
Efficiency: It consists of five items and refers to the extent
to which the website is well structured, providing speed of
access, easiness of navigating and completing a transaction
quickly.
Information Quality: Five items are included in such
dimension, referring to the extent to which a website is
informative and able to provide the information relevant to
the customer’s demands, needs and up-to-dated information.
Interactivity (Contact): This dimension consists of five items
and refers to the extent to which a user can interact and
contact with the website.
Customer service: It is of five items and refers to the ability
of website personnel to respond to customers’ inquiries
quickly, providing appropriate problem-solving mechanisms
and following up with guests after they leave.
Reliability: It basically consists of eight items and refers to
the extent to which the website performs services as promised
and the correct technical functioning of the website and the
16
The Effects of E-Service Quality Dimensions on Tourist’s e-Satisfaction
mers’ inquiries quickly, providing
accuracy of online booking and online payment.
Validity and Reliability
Privacy: It consists of three items and refers to the safety
of the website and the protection of customer information,
credit card information and shopping behavior data of the
customers.
The validity was greatly testified through an extensive
review of the literature within the current study. A
questionnaire was employed and judged by many experts of
e-tourism. A pilot study has been conducted amongst a small
number of online tourists in Egypt to get the passengers’
feedback. Additionally, Cronbach’s Alpha was used as an
examination indicator in order to determine the reliability
of the measurement scale of e-satisfaction after testifying
the pilot study. The value of Cronbach is generally required
to be over 0.7. (Bozorgy, 2007, p.72). According to the
figures generated from the pilot test, it was observed that the
reliability of all dimensions, in terms of Cronbach’s Alpha
was .926. This meant that the scale, applied in this paper,
was reliable.
Efficiency
Information
Quality
Interactivity
(Contact)
E-Satisfaction
Customer
service
Reliability
Privacy
Figure.1. The Proposed Model of the study (E-TourServQual Model).
Figure 1. The Proposed Model of the study
(E-TourServQual Model).
Hypotheses of the Study
1. E-Tourism service quality dimensions have a positive
effect on E-Satisfaction.
2. There is a significant difference in tourists’ satisfaction
degrees toward the electronic tourism services quality,
produced by the websites of the Egyptian travel
agencies according to their demographic backgrounds.
METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY
The questionnaire consists of three parts: demographic data,
the model assessing the electronic tourism services quality
of travel agencies websites and electronic customer overall
satisfaction. The data which has been used in this paper
are both secondary data and primary data which had been
collected by a questionnaire. The sample of the study was
the tourists who arranged and bought their tours to Egypt
from Egyptian travel agents websites, or used these websites
to get any tourism services. Simple random sample was
used in choosing the sample of the study in Cairo, Hurgada
and Sharm Elsheikh. A total of 400 forms of questionnaire
were distributed. Only 305 (76%) forms were answered and
returned back, and 135 of them were excluded because they
were not completed and many tourists were not electronic
tourists. Thus 170 (42.5%) forms were valid, completed and
were included in the analysis.
For quantitative data analysis, the Statistical Package for
Social Science (SPSS 12.0) is used for data input and analysis.
The statistics results were presented in graphical forms with
detailed description. The data have been analyzed using
statistical indexes such as descriptive statistics, correlation,
regression, ANOVA and T-test.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The majority of the sample was British with a percentage
22.5%, U.S. citizens came as the second one with a percentage
13% and Australians as the third with a percentage 11% as
it is included in the first table. Data showed that the gender
percentage of the respondents was 52.4% females and 47.6%
males. The majority of the respondents was 28.2% at the
age group of “20-30 years”. The next most reprehensive age
groups were those of “31-40 years” old with a percentage
of 26.5%, on one hand. On the other hand, the age groups
“less than 20 years and “more than 60 years” represented
the lowest percentage of the sample. This might be due to
the popularity of using of ICTs among the younger category
more than the elderly as shown in the next table. The data
showed that the Bachelor Degree ranked the first one for
educational attainment with a percentage of 38.2%, and
then the high school as the second one with a percentage of
29.4% .Additionally, the Master’s and Ph.D. Degrees were
represented with approximately percentage of 28% as the
third one. However, 42.5% of the sample occupied private
jobs, and around 15.3% occupied governmental jobs
Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of Respondents
(N=170)
Frequency
Percentage %
Male
81
47.6
Female
89
52.4
Gender
Age
Less than 20
4
2.4
20-30
48
28.2
31-40
45
26.5
Mohammed Ezzat Mohammed, Ghada Mohamed Wafik, Sabreen Gaber Abdel Jalil, Yehia Abu El Hassan
Frequency
Percentage %
41-50
44
25.9
51-60
22
12.9
More than 60
7
4.1
17
Table. 2. Means and Standard Deviation statistics
Dimensions
Mean
Std. Deviation
Privacy
4.20
.9590
Educational Level
Reliability
4.04
.8606
High School
50
29.4
Customer service
3.96
.8981
Bachelor
65
38.2
Interactivity
3.93
.9309
3.92
.8859
3.90
.8706
Master
40
23.5
Information Quality
PHD
8
4.7
Efficiency
Others
7
4.1
None
11
6.5
Student
15
8.8
Governmental job
26
15.3
Private job
72
42.4
Academic
16
9.4
Business Man
22
12.9
Others
8
4.7
Job
Nationality
U.S.
22
12.9
British
38
22.4
Regression of E-Tourism Service Quality
Dimensions and E-Satisfaction
The third table displays the results of the regression analysis
of the electronic tourism service quality dimensions; as an
independent variable and E-Satisfaction; as a dependent
variable. R square measures the effects of the independent
variables on the dependent variable. In this case, R² is 38.5%
to represent the contribution of interactivity, reliability,
efficiency, and privacy in predicting e-satisfaction. In other
words, approximately 38.5% of the variation of e-satisfaction
of tourists was clarified by the four dimensions of e-service
quality.
French
9
5.3
Australian
18
10.6
German
11
6.5
Italian
11
6.5
Canadian
9
5.3
Spanish
9
5.3
South African
6
3.5
(Constant)
Polish
7
4.1
Interactivity
New zelander
6
3.5
Mexican
4
2.4
Venezuelan
9
5.3
Greek
5
2.9
Russian
6
3.5
Table 3. Regression Analysis of E-Tourism Service
Quality Dimensions and E-Satisfaction
Beta
T
Sig
12.723
2.136
.005
.400
2.687
.026
Reliability
.387
2.248
.008
Information Quality
.385
1.690
.093
Efficiency
.383
2.091
.038
Privacy
.365
2.211
.028
Customer Service
.329
.463
.644
٭Significant Level = 0.05
Mean Values of the Model Dimensions
The second table indicates that the means of all dimensions
of the quality of the electronic tourism services were
high and the tourists were satisfied. Privacy was the first
dimension that tourists were very satisfied with (4.20) and
reliability was the second dimension (4.04). Then, the other
dimensions came as follows: Customer service (3.96),
Interactivity (3.93), Information Quality (3.92) and finally
Efficiency (3.90).
In the regression analysis, the beta coefficients could be
employed to explain the relative significance of the six
dimensions as independent variables in contributing to the
variance in tourists’ overall satisfaction as the dependent
variable. According to the Beta value, four dimensions of
electronic tourism service quality had a significant positive
impact on e-satisfaction. A number of the previous studies
indicated the same result, e.g., Parasuraman et al. (2005,
p.16), Swaid and Wigand (2007, p.11), Parasuraman et al.
(1985, p.43), Yang and Fang (2004), Wolfmbarger and Gilly,
(2003,p. 190), and Ho and Lee (2007).
Both interactivity (.400) and reliability (.387) were the most
significant dimensions in contributing to e-satisfaction. That
18
The Effects of E-Service Quality Dimensions on Tourist’s e-Satisfaction
was confirmed by the study of Iliachenko (2006a, p.114)
which stated that interactivity was the most important
dimension impacting e-satisfaction. Similar findings were
asserted within the previous studies of Swaid and Wigand
(2007, p.11), Zhang and Lam (1999, p.347), and Wolfmbarger
and Gilly (2003, p.190) who indicated that reliability had a
great impact on e-satisfaction.
However, both efficiency and Privacy were the lowest
dimensions contributing to the tourists’ satisfaction.
Additionally, privacy was the lowest significant dimension
to e-satisfaction within the study of Parasuraman et al.’s
(2005, p.16) .Accordingly, the first hypothesis of the study
was supported.
The Differences of Tourist’s Satisfaction of the
Egyptian Travel Agents Websites According to
their Demographic Characteristics
The current analysis discusses the differences of tourists’
satisfaction toward the electronic tourism services quality
of the Egyptian travel agents websites according to their
demographic profile, e.g. nationality, gender, age, educational
level and work. T-test and ANOVA statistics were employed
to analyze the data. If P.value is > 0.05, there is no significant
difference among variables, whereas if P.value is < 0.05,
there is a significant difference between variables.
Differences of Tourist’s Satisfaction of the
Egyptian Travel Agents Websites According to
Nationality
The results indicated that there was a significant difference
in the overall satisfaction of the respondents according to the
nationality (P.value < 0.05) (Table 4).
Table 4. ANOVA Test of the Differences of the
Perception of E-Satisfaction According to Nationality
E-Satisfaction
Mean
df
F
P.value (Sig)
7.995
169
1.811
0.041
Accordingly, it can be stated that nationality has a significant
impact on the tourists’ satisfaction of the Egyptian travel
agents websites. As a matter of fact, both Russians and Polish
respondents differed on their satisfaction degree rather than
the other nationalities.
Differences of Tourist’s Satisfaction of the
Egyptian Travel Agents Websites According to
Gender
The fifth table shows that there was no significant difference
between the responses of males and females on their
perception of satisfaction toward the electronic tourism
services quality of the Egyptian travel agents websites
(p.value > 0.05).
Table 5. T-Test of the Differences of the Perception of
E-Satisfaction According to Gender
E-Satisfaction
Male
Female
Mean
Mean
17.07
17.05
df
t
P.value
(Sig)
168
.054
.957
*P.value < 0.05
Differences of Tourist’s Satisfaction of the
Egyptian Travel Agents Websites According to
Age
The results revealed that there was no significant difference
in the overall satisfaction of the respondents according to
their age group (P.value > 0.05).
Table 6. ANOVA Test of the Differences of the
Perception of E-Satisfaction According to Age groups
E-Satisfaction
Mean
df
F
P.value
(Sig)
12.192
169
2.719
0.22
*P.value < 0.05
The L.S.D test proved that there were significant differences
between the responses of the tourists due to their nationalities
as follows:
• U.S. and Canadian tourists.
• Among the Russian respondents, in addition to British,
Australian, Canadian, Spanish, South African and
Venezuelan.
• Among the Polish respondents and those British,
French, Australian, Canadian, South African,
Venezuelan and Greek.
*P.value < 0.05
Differences of Tourist’s Satisfaction of the
Egyptian Travel Agents Websites According to
Educational Level
The seventh table indicates that the respondents’ education
level had no significant difference in their overall satisfaction
(p.value > 0.05).
Mohammed Ezzat Mohammed, Ghada Mohamed Wafik, Sabreen Gaber Abdel Jalil, Yehia Abu El Hassan
Table 7. ANOVA Test of the Differences of
the Perception of E-Satisfaction According to
Educational Level
E-Satisfaction
Mean
df
F
P.value
(Sig)
4.798
169
.242
0.914
•
Differences of Tourist’s Satisfaction of the
Egyptian Travel Agents Websites According to
Job
•
According to the eighth table, there was no significant
difference in the overall satisfaction of the respondents
according to job (p.value > 0.05).
•
Table 8. ANOVA Test of the Differences of the
Perception of E-Satisfaction According to Job
E-Satisfaction
Mean
df
F
P.value
(Sig)
7.655
169
1.663
0.133
Consequently, there was a significant variation in tourists’
satisfaction degree toward the Egyptian travel agencies
websites according to the tourist’s nationality, on one hand.
On the other hand, there was no significant difference in
tourists’ satisfaction degree according to age, educational
level, gender, and job.
CONCLUSIONS
The study indicates that the Egyptian travel agents are at
the first stage of applying e-tourism in their business as a
large number of them did not have even a website. However,
there are approximately 492 travel agents have their own
websites. The study suggested a reliable and valid electronic
tourism service quality scale (called E-Tour Serv Qual
Model). The model could be used to assess the quality of
the electronic tourism service and electronic satisfaction in
all tourism establishments, particularly travel agents. This
Model consists of six dimensions, including efficiency,
interactivity, information quality, reliability, customer
service, and privacy. Additionally, interactivity, reliability,
efficiency and privacy have become the most significant
dimensions contributing to e-satisfaction.
RECOMMENDATIONS
• Travel agents managers should identify how the
customer assesses the quality of the electronic service
•
•
•
•
19
as a base for improving service delivery. This will
encourage increasing purchases, leading to reach the
highest degree of such electronic satisfaction and
finally reaching the electronic customer loyalty.
Egyptian travel agents can use the proposed model of
the study (E-TourServQual model) for assessing the
quality of e-services and tourists satisfaction of their
websites because the reliability and validity of the
scale are high and suitable for Appling.
Egyptian travel agents have to develop their websites.
Additionally, they have to update and enhance their
electronic tourism services in order to meet the tourists’
needs and requirements to reach e-satisfaction.
Egyptian travel agents should support and encourage
e-tourism in all their business through e-marketing,
e-sales and transactions with customers, and those
with tourism suppliers. In addition to the electronic
management of relationship with tourists after sales
services…etc.
Egyptian travel agents have to design websites
characterized by organized simplified graphics and
pictures for an easier and quicker navigation and
loading.
Faculties and Institutes of Tourism and Hotels should
support the delivery of electronic tourism courses and
electronic tourism marketing for their students.
Legislations and laws of e-tourism, online travel
agents, and tourism websites need to be decreed in
Egypt.
The Ministry of Tourism has to modify the system of
the Egyptian tourism statistics generally and assign
also a department for electronic tourism statistics.
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