Examining the effective factors on and consequences of satisfaction of inbound tourists and assessing their satisfaction of tourism services in Isfahan

In recent years, with the growth of tourism industry, the importance of tourist satisfaction assessment has been noticed as a tool for developing competitive advantage. Because those tourists who have visited the destination are the most reliable source of information for potential tourists, satisfied tourists may have a positive word of mouth recommendation. The cuurent study aimed to examine antecedents and consequences of tourist satisfaction in six tourism-related service sectors in Isfahan and calculate the overall satisfaction with the destination. The data required for this paper was collected using a questionnaire that was distributed among a randome sample of inbound tourists travelling to Isfahan between September and December 2012. Structural equation modeling was employed to investigate the relationships amongst the constructs. The findings show the positive effect of perceived performance and assessed value on tourist satisfaction. On the other side, tourist satisfaction has a negative effect on complaint intention and has a positive effect on loyalty. Also the positive relationship between expectation and perceived performance and between perceived performance and assessed value are confirmed. Across the six tourism-related sectors, attractions had the highest rank in tourist satisfaction, followed by transportation, hotels, restaurants, retail shops and immigration. Also the overall destination satisfaction for Isfahan is 82.50