Service quality in New Zealand ecotourism businesses

Abstract

Service quality is paramount to the success and survival of organisations today (Tan, Barnes and Smith, 1996) as it provides numerous benefits and a competitive advantage. The tourism industry is one of the fastest growing industries in New Zealand and relies heavily on service quality to attract new customers and retain existing customers. Given the importance of service quality to the New Zealand tourism industry, this dissertation will examine service quality in ecotourism businesses throughout New Zealand. This research will be conducted in the hope of providing a greater understanding of not only how service quality is delivered, but also what systems and policies are in place to ensure it is delivered consistently to a high level. This research is important to the development of the service quality literature, as very little research has focused on service quality from the organisations perspective. The majority of the research into service quality, in both New Zealand and world wide, has predominately been from the viewpoint of the customer, specifically how they perceive the quality of the service delivered to them. The ecotourism industry was chosen for this study because of its infancy and exponential growth, which is a result of increasing demand for ecologically sound tourism. Secondly, the researcher has developed an strong interest in ecotourism due to previous research into the industry as part of her 591 project. The definition of ecotourism used for this study is that offered by Ecotours New Zealand, who define ecotourism as: "The observation of living organisms within their natural environment where the operation does not degrade and may enhance the environment so that it can continue to be enjoyed by future generations. There is an educational element to the operation. The participants will learn from expert guides and hopefully gain an increased respect and love for the environment" (Ecotours New Zealand, 2003). This research has multiple aims. First of which is to determine how ecotourism businesses in New Zealand define service quality. The research also aims to determine how they ensure all employees consistently deliver service quality and how ecotourism businesses measure the service quality delivered by their employees. This research further aims to determine what hurdles New Zealand ecotourism businesses face in delivering consistently high service quality and whether New Zealand ecotourism businesses believe they deliver excellent service quality overall. This dissertation will begin by presenting service quality and the various avenues available to Ecotourism Managers in managing, measuring, monitoring and ensuring service quality is delivered to a high standard. In chapter two of this dissertation the specific research questions developed for this research and the methodology adopted to gather data and test the research hypotheses are presented. This research adopts a three stage methodology which consists of a review of the academic literature, an email survey and case studies which are conducted using semi-structured interviews and observations of the organisation. Chapter four presents the research findings from all three data collection stages, while chapter five further discusses the findings and compares the results with similar research reported within the academic literature. The limitations of the study are also presented and explained with suggestions for further research made. The dissertation concludes with chapter six, which provides a summary of the report in the form of a conclusion.