The role of climatic factors in determining tourist satisfaction : the case of five Indian Ocean Islands

Abstract: Tourism is one of the largest economic sectors in the world and it plays an important role in the economic development of Small Island Developing States. The Indian Ocean Islands rely on tourism for economic development. The climate is important for the tourism in the Indian Ocean Islands since the tourism is mainly based on sun, sea and sand tourism which rely on warm sunny conditions. The aim of this study is to analyse the content of TripAdvisor reviews spanning the period 2012 to 2016 for five Indian Ocean Islands namely: Comoros, Reunion, Seychelles, Mauritius and Maldives to determine the relative importance of suitable climatic conditions for tourist satisfaction. 12% of the English TripAdvisor reviews contained climate mentions which confirms that climatic conditions are important for reviewers. The importance of the climatic conditions varied across the islands but rain was the climatic condition which was mentioned the most. The climatic sensitivity of the reviewers also varied based on their country of origin, choice of accommodation establishment and other personal factors such as whether they have children or not. The results also indicate that there are various factors that influence the reviewers’ satisfaction of the weather that they experienced, such as the facilities at the accommodation establishments, level of service and availability of alternative activities. The TripAdvisor reviews also gave insight into environmental concerns such as coral bleaching and beach erosion.M.A. (Geography