Assessing the Satisfaction Level of Tourists with Their Overall Experiences of Tours in the World Heritage Sites of Amhara National Regional State

Tourist satisfaction is an important indicator to successful destination marketing because it influences tourists’ choice of destination, consumption of products and services, and the their decision to stay and to return. The current study investigated tourists’ perceptions towards tourism services and products provided at tourist attraction sites in Amhara Region, and determined the extent to which destinations related factors are associated with tourists’ level of satisfaction. The study was conducted in four tourist attraction sites in the Amhara Region, namely, Gondar, Debark, Bahir Dar, and Lalibela. The study employed a cross-sectional research design. The sample population for this study composed of international tourists who visited tourist attraction sites in Amhara Region. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected in this study. The data were assessed with eight destination related factors (accommodation, accessibility, attractiveness, communication, environmental, infrastructural, cost, and others). The results of descriptive statistics revealed that the respondents rated most of the tourist destination attributes highly, indicating that tourists generally agreed that destination attributes in the study areas were found at satisfactory levels. The results of multiple regression analysis indicated that destination attributes such as attractiveness, communication, and cost had a positive relationship with tourist satisfaction while infrastructural, accessibility, and others had a negative relationship with tourist satisfaction. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that destination managers and marketers should make much more efforts toward tourist satisfaction. Policy makers and managers in the tourism industry should also consider infrastructural, accessibility, and other related factors which can have a negative relationship with tourist satisfaction. Keywords:Tourist satisfaction, destination attributes, accommodation, accessibility, attractiveness, communication, environmental, infrastructural, cost DOI: 10.7176/JTHS/43-03 Publication date:September 30th 201