Browsing by Subject "National Park"

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Open Access
Effectiveness of digital marketing in attracting tourists in national parks of West Bengal : An empirical study
(University of North Bengal, 2023) Saha, Mukesh; Bhattacharya, Debasis
Tourist Satisfaction is one of the crucial aspects of any National park operator inviting mass tourists to their destinations. This study explores the website dimensions of National parks and tour operator websites and examines their effects on Tourists Satisfaction. For this study, the data has been collected from tourists who visited the National park through National park websites or tour operator websites. Convenience sampling has been used to select the places, and a total of 445 responses (369 are from tourists who visited through the National Park website and 76 are from tourists who visited through the tour operator website) have been collected using the snowball sampling method. The study considers demographic parameters such as age, gender, academic qualification, and income to analyse the demographic profile of the National park visitors. The study found that young adults (age groups between 26 and 40) are more inclined towards visiting National parks compared to other age groups. The study findings revealed that males are very keen to visit National parks compared to their female counterparts. Likewise, the study shows that National park visitors are well educated and have knowledge of the Internet and online booking. The National Park visitors fall under the upper middle-class income groups. Multiple regression analysis has been employed to examine the effects of the Website Usefulness (WU), Tangibility (TA), Website Friendliness (WF), and Reliability (REL). Design Quality (DQ) Information Quality (IQ) on Tourists Satisfaction(TS). The scale developed for the study has been adopted from previous literature and modified as per the needs of the study. The scales developed have been tested for reliability and validity, which are prerequisites for any scientific study. The reliability has been studied by employing Cronbach's alpha, which is a widely accepted measure for the reliability coefficient. This study reveals that the reliability values are quite acceptable in the sense that they are higher than the threshold level. To test the content and construct validity, a factor analysis is employed to examine the factor structure. The KMO values suggest that the fit of the model is adequate, as revealed by the Chi-Square value, which is significant beyond p<0.000. The constuct validity is established by the fact that the dimensions emerged quite distinct and there is no overlap among the various dimensions. The study's findings from data collected from tourists visiting the National Park website revealed that the Website Usefulness (WU). Tangibility (TA), Website Friendliness (WF). Reliability (REL), Design Quality (DQ) affect Tourists' Satisfaction (TS). The study has observed that the Website Usefulness (WU) of the National park website has a more substantial influence on Tourists' Satisfaction (due to the highest beta coefficient β = 0.377) followed by the other dimensions such as Tangibility (TA), Website Friendliness (WF), Reliability (REL), and Design Quality (DQ), based on their respective beta coefficients [(β=0.212, β=0.094, β=0.086, β=0.082)] on Tourist's Satisfaction (TS). However, Information Quality (IQ) does not influence the tourists satisfaction. Whereas findings of data collected from tourists visiting tour operators websites revealed that the Website Friendliness (WF), Website Usefulness (WU), Reliability (REL) affects Tourists Satisfaction (TS). The study has observed that the Website Friendliness (WF) has the greatest beta value (β = 0.334). compared to the other website aspects. Thus, the study revealed that the Website Friendliness (WF) aspect of National park websites has a more significant impact on Tourists Satisfaction (TS). The effects of National park website aspects including Website Usefulness (WU) and Reliability (REL) on Tourists Satisfaction are also found to be significant, with respective beta coefficients of 0.329, and 0.204. However, Tangibility (TA), Design Quality (DQ), and Information Quality (IQ) does not influence the Tourists Satisfaction. The findings of this study will help National park operators and tour operators understand the various dimensions of a National park website and tour operator's website. Moreover, the study's results will allow them to strategically focus on the relative importance of National park website and tour operator's website dimensions to satisfy tourists. The website media content providers will be able to know the various factors influencing tourists satisfaction, and they will develop their content so that it influences tourists satisfaction. Also, the findings of the study will enable operators of National parks and Tour operators to strategically concentrate on the relative significance of website dimensions to please tourists. This study provides a model for accessing tourists satisfaction based on the website dimensions of National parks and tour operators. However, this study has some limitations. The study considers only the West Bengal State National Park website and only seven website dimensions for the National Park and tour operator. Therefore, the study can be extended by an upcoming researcher by incorporating other National Park websites across the nation. In addition, other website dimensions of National Parks and tour operators can be accommodated to extend this research. The study findings will help National park managers understand the impact of various website dimensions on tourist satisfaction. In addition, this study provides useful information to tour operators to make their tourists satisfied. Key Words: Tourists Satisfaction (TS), Website Usefulness (WU), Tangibility (TA), Website Friendliness (WF), Reliability (REL), Design Quality (DQ), and Information Quality (IQ)