SATISFACTION DRIVERS AND REVISIT INTENTION OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISTS IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

Malaysia is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Southeast Asia as well as globally and the tourism industry opens up a myriad of opportunities for a sustainable development of the Malaysian economy. Malaysia is famous for its pristine beaches, tasty cuisines, easy access and diverse culture. However, the growth of international tourists in Malaysia is relatively lower compared to the other Southeast Asian countries and this may cause Malaysia to be less competitive. As such, understanding the international tourists’ intention to revisit and the uncovering the reasons for them to revisit is vital as many countries relied heavily on the flow of the repeat visits as a revenue generator. Besides, satisfaction of their travelling experience remains a multifaceted perspective that has yet to be fully understood due to the various influencing factors. Thus, the main objective of this study is to determine the international tourists’ intention to revisit Malaysia and subsequently examine the various predictors including food image, destination image, service quality of accommodation and ease of transportation towards their visit satisfaction. A deductive approach using questionnaire were distributed to 200 international tourists around Kuala Lumpur area and were analysed using SPSS. This cross-sectional study confirmed a positive indication whereby 80% of the international tourists had the intention to revisit Malaysia. Subsequently, the regression analysis revealed that the four antecedents only explained a total of 30.9 percent variance in tourists’ satisfaction whereby the highest predictor is destination image, followed by service quality of accommodation and ease of transportation but food image had no significant relationship with their satisfaction. As predicted, satisfaction influenced their intention to revisit. In conclusion, relevant discussions, recommendations and limitations of the study were provided in hope to improve the overall satisfaction levels of the international tourists and to boost Malaysia’s position as the preferred holiday destination.