Description
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the service quality of Macao’s World Heritage
(WH) site as perceived by visitors involving both tourists and local residents.
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
Service quality of Macao's world heritage site
Penny Yim King Wan Elizabeth I. Man Cheng
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To cite this document:
Penny Yim King Wan Elizabeth I. Man Cheng, (2011),"Service quality of Macao's world heritage site", International J ournal of Culture,
Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 5 Iss 1 pp. 57 - 68
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Service quality of Macao’s world
heritage site
Penny Yim King Wan and Elizabeth I. Man Cheng
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the service quality of Macao’s World Heritage
(WH) site as perceived by visitors involving both tourists and local residents.
Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data was collected via structured questionnaires to
obtain views of 1,056 visitors on the 27 world heritage attractions in Macao.
Findings – The overall visitor satisfaction level on the service quality of Macao’s WH was high but
dimensions on ‘‘empathy’’ and ‘‘consumables’’ needed improvements. Signi?cant differences were also
found between the tourists and local residents. Tourists rated the level of crowding as more tolerable
than local residents but less tolerable in terms of staff availability at attractions. Residents had a relatively
low satisfaction score for most items except the availability of staff than the tourists.
Practical implications – To attract more repeated visitors, the results highlighted the importance of
satisfying both groups of visitors by taking special care of the needy and children and offering more
on-site information. Managing well with the city’s tourism carrying capacity and providing more staff
service were also suggested to satisfy the local and tourist markets respectively.
Originality/value – Studies on service quality in heritage especially within the Macao context were
scarce. This pioneering study shed light on the service quality of Macao’s WH site and provided hints on
the differences in the perceived service quality between the tourists and local residents. More speci?c
government efforts can be exerted to satisfy the two niche markets in a more effective manner.
Keywords Service levels, Customer satisfaction, Heritage, China
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The evaluation of customer satisfaction and service quality is the primary goal for service
?rms that would like to survive in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Companies with
good service quality will lead to higher customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, resulting
in repeat purchases and pro?tability (Parasuraman, 2000; Rao and Keller, 1997). Keeping
tourists satis?ed and delighting them are of particular importance to the hospitality and
tourism industry. Customers’ consumption pattern has undergone a signi?cant
transformation recently. They are not merely looking for the traditional sun-sea-sand,
passive pleasure seeking holiday; but are increasingly demanding for service quality that
are considered as value for money (Sharpley and Forster, 2003). Providing service quality
thus will help improving satisfaction of visitors and this is believed to lead to repeat visits,
positive word-of-mouth and increased international visitation (Ramsaran-Fowadar, 2007).
Increasing recognition of the importance of enhancing service quality in cultural heritage
settings, however, appeared only since the late 1990s (Boyd and Timothy, 2003). Cities with
unique cultural heritages showinterests in developing cultural and heritage tourism, which is
one of the fastest growing tourism sectors nowadays. Boyd and Timothy (2003) observe that
the late 1990s has witnessed a renewed interest in travelers to rediscover the past. The
World Tourism Organization also estimates that 37 percent of all trips today involve a
DOI 10.1108/17506181111111762 VOL. 5 NO. 1 2011, pp. 57-68, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1750-6182
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PAGE 57
Penny Yim King Wan is
based in the Faculty of
Business Administration,
University of Macau, Taipa,
Macao, China. Elizabeth I.
Man Cheng is based at the
Institute for Tourism
Studies, Colina de
Mong-Ha, Macao, China.
The authors thank the Institute
for Tourism Studies for
sponsoring the funding for the
data collection of this research.
Received: November 2008
Revised: March 2009
Accepted: March 2009
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cultural/heritage component (Boyd and Timothy, 2003). Boniface and Fowler (1993, p. 15)
explain this phenomenon by arguing that some people who ‘‘do have varied and exciting
lives may yearn for periods of peace and quiet’’. Cultural tourism therefore seems to be able
to meet human needs deep within. As people become more af?uent and have accumulated
substantial traveling experiences, some begin to look for new tourist experiences in special
interest tourism such as cultural heritage tourism. In order to attract these cultural visitors
and encourage repeated visitation, the provision of excellent service quality becomes
essential to any heritage destinations.
This study explores the service quality issues in Macao’s World Heritage Site. Macao is
located on the southeastern coast of China to the West of the Pearl River Delta, and is
approximately 60 km southwest of Hong Kong. It is 28.2 km
2
in size and has a total
population of about 552,000 (The Statistics and Census Service, 2008a). After 450 years as
a Portuguese colony, Macao’s administration was handed over to China on 20 December
1999. The settlement of Macao by the Portuguese in 1555 not only laid the basis for trade
and cultural exchange between the East and the West, it also represented the exchange of
values between the Chinese and Portuguese, producing a unique cultural heritage. The
Historic Center of Macao was subsequently enlisted by the United Nations Educational,
Scienti?c and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as part of the world heritage on 15 July 2005,
making it the 31st heritage site in China. The Historic Center of Macao encompasses
twenty-two monuments and eight squares (or piazzas) (Macau Government Tourist Of?ce,
2007).
Although substantial government efforts have been put in marketing campaigns, such as
designating the year of 2006 as ‘‘Macao World Heritage Year’’ and implementing the
‘‘Heritage Passport’’ to reward those tourists who have visited the heritage attractions, etc.,
very little efforts have been exerted to enhance the service quality of those attractions. One
of the major problems Macao is currently facing is that not many tourists actually come for
visiting the city’s famous cultural heritages, despite of the drastic increase in the numbers of
tourist from only 9 million in 2000 to 27 million in 2007 (The Statistics and Census Service,
2008b). According to Cheng (2007), the top vacation motives for single destination travelers
were shopping, traveling to a nearby destination and escaping from daily routine. Visiting
world heritage attractions was only ranked the forth. Local residents are not clear where the
world heritage attractions are and some of the attractions are being misused by the public.
An example is the Sam Kai Vui Kun Temple, a Chinese temple located next to a food market
and residential complex. Local people always park their motorcycles in front of this
attraction, blocking the entrance and exit (Wan and Pinheiro, 2005). Reasons attributing to
low interest of visitors to visit the city’s rich cultural heritages are many. The lack of
attractions, poor management, maintenance and service delivery on the sites as reported in
Wan and Pinheiro’s (2005) study are probably some of them. This study therefore aims to
contribute to the Macao Government on the ways to attract more cultural visitors by
examining visitors’ perceptions on the service quality provided in the city’s WH attractions.
The result may be bene?cial to other WH destinations.
Literature review: service quality in the cultural heritage context
Researchers de?ne quality in different ways and there is no agreed de?nition of service
quality (Kandampully, 2000). Feigenbaum (1956) de?nes quality as value. Crosby (1979)
de?nes quality as conformance. Juran (1980) de?nes quality as ?tness for use while
Parasuraman et al. (1985) come up with the de?nition of meeting customers’ expectations
However, within the service sector, de?ning quality follows from a customer’s perspective
and should aim to meet customers’ expectations (Parasuraman et al., 1985). Service quality
can neither be conceptualized nor evaluated by traditional methods of product quality
because service possesses three main characteristics: intangibles, heterogeneity and
inseparability (Parasuraman et al., 1985, 1988). For this reason, many researchers have
de?ned and conceptualized service quality as a form of attitude, which results from a
comparison of customers’ expectations with perceptions of performance (Parasuraman
et al., 1985, 1988).
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In measuring service quality, Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry in 1985 has introduced an
instrument called SERVQUAL and it has been commonly used. SERVQUAL measures the
‘‘gap’’ between customers’ expectations and the performance they actually receive by ?ve
dimensions (reduced from ten original items), namely ‘ ‘tangibles’ ’, ‘ ‘reliability’ ’,
‘‘responsiveness’’, ‘‘assurance’’ and ‘‘empathy’’ through two sets of 20 statements, rated
on a seven-point Likert scale (Parasuraman et al., 1988) (see Table I). The smaller the gap,
the better the quality of service and the greater the customer satisfaction. Since its inception,
the SERVQUAL scale has been widely used by both academics and practicing managers
across industries including those within the hospitality and tourism industry. Examples
include the studies by Tribe and Snaith (1998), Saleh and Ryan (1992) and Wong et al.
(1999). Although SERVQUAL has been criticized for its underlying gap approach, including
its core constructs of consumer satisfaction, expectations and quality (Chadee and
Mattsson, 1996), its methodology (Johns and Hoseason, 2001) as well its inability to be
re-applied to different service sectors such as cultural heritage (Frochot and Hughes, 2000);
it is widely considered as a useful tool in studying service quality. Laws et al. (2006, p. 6)
state that the SERVQUAL scale ‘‘highlights unequivocally the centrality of quality in service
research and management. It emphasizes the complexity of managing service
experiences’’. Frochot (2001) and Frochot and Hughes (2000) also believe that it can be
used as a ‘‘skeleton’’ and further develops to apply into new contexts.
Researches on service quality and customer satisfaction in heritage settings are limited.
They can be categorized into several categories. Some studies focus on investigating how
the physical attributes of heritage sites affect visitors’ overall satisfaction. An example
includes Black’s (2001) research which examines the roles played by design and
management of psychical environment on meeting the needs, expectations and behavior of
different types of visitors and contributed to their tourism experience. Bonn et al. (2007)
investigate the effect of some basic environmental elements on visitors to museum,
aquarium, performing arts center, and zoo in Tampa, Florida and conclude that the heritage
attraction’s physical environment such as lighting, color, signage, spaciousness and traf?c
?ow, etc., play an important role in determining both visitors’ attitude toward the heritage
attraction and future re-patronage intentions, as well as their willingness to recommend the
experience to friends and relatives.
Other researches explore the intangible aspects of service quality concerning how the
service is delivered or the interaction between employees and customers during the service
encounters. Laws (1998), for example, develop a service blueprint technique which maps
out a service system to help improving service delivery in heritage settings. Cooper et al.
(2006) study the backpackers’ behavior and perceptions on the WH sites in Fraser Island,
Queensland, Australia and conclude that the failure to insist on truly effective service quality
with respect to the environment by the site managers, coupled with a laissez-faire culture
towards the environment on the part of visitors, have resulted in poor service management
and low visitor satisfaction at the site.
Other studies attempt to understand whether there are differences in the importance of
attributes and satisfaction levels among different demographic and ethnic groups. For
instance, Jewell (2007) observes that Japanese visitors traveling to Australian’s heritage
Table I Dimensions of SERVQUAL
Dimensions Variables
Tangibles Physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel
Reliability Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately
Responsiveness Willingness to help consumers and provide prompt service
Assurance Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust
and con?dence
Empathy Caring, individualized attention the ?rm provides to its customers
Source: Parasuraman et al. (1988)
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sites are more interested in learning about the history of the sites while American visitors are
more attracted by the architecture of monuments and historical buildings. This research
points to the need of analyzing the role of culture played regarding attitudes and values
towards heritage. Huh and Uysal (2003) explore the relationship between cultural/heritage
destination attributes and overall satisfaction in Virginia Historic Triangle (Williamsburg,
Jamestown, and York Town), and ?nd that factors like accessibility, indoor facilities,
ambiance, and accommodation types are important source of satisfaction or dissatisfaction
for tourists who are repeat visitors. Female visitors tend to value the elements of handicraft,
architecture, scenery, and art (music and dance) as part of their experience more than male
visitors.
Finally, some individual studies address the issue from the management and psychology
perspectives. Deery and Jago (2001), for instance, take a human resource approach and
argue that the attitudes and abilities of staff have a crucial impact on the way the service is
delivered to visitors and will therefore affect their enjoyment of the visit and their perceptions
of the attraction. Jago and Deery’s (2001) study reports that a successful volunteer program
helps delivering quality visitor experience at a historical visitor attraction. Rojas and
Camarero (2007), however, adopt a cognitive approach and observe that the visitor’s
expectations are affected by both cognitive (perceived quality) and emotional (pleasure)
experience, and these are direct determinants of satisfaction. Last but not the least, Burnett’s
(2001) study discuss how ‘‘real authenticity’’ instead of ‘‘attractively authenticity’’ can
enhance visitors’ satisfaction.
The literature review provides useful insights on how the term ‘‘service quality’’ or ‘‘visitor
satisfaction’’ is commonly understood by different scholars and the dimensions and
perspectives that are used in assessing service quality in cultural heritage settings.
However, researches on service quality in cultural heritage contexts are still limited. Each
attempts to examine a single aspect of the issue fragmentally. This echoes with Frochot and
Hughes’s (2000, p. 157) view that ‘‘the analysis of service quality in this ?eld [heritage] has
been addressed by a few researches, the information provided by these studies is often
limited since they tend to analyze separately the different elements constituting service
quality and lack of a holistic view of its main components’’. Certainly, a more comprehensive
and holistic study framework is required.
Although the SERVQUAL scale has been subjected to several criticisms as discussed
earlier, it is considered useful as a ‘‘skeleton’’ and adapt to new contexts (Frochot, 2001;
Frochot and Hughes, 2000; Parasuraman et al., 1988). In order to allow researchers to be
able to use the SERVQUAL scale in measuring service quality in the heritage context,
Frochot and Hughes (2000) and Frochot (2001) have re-modi?ed the scale into a new one
called HISTOQUAL with ?ve modi?ed dimensions, namely ‘‘responsiveness’’, ‘‘tangibles’’,
‘‘communication’’, ‘‘consumables’’ and ‘‘empathy’’ (Table II). This HISTOQUAL scale has
taken into account of the fact that the service encounters characterizing the service
provided in heritage sites are unique and covered a wider range of components such as
direction signs, staff attitude, catering and retailing facilities, special care towards disabled
and children and so forth (Yale, 1991). According to Frochot and Hughes (2000), the
HISTOQUAL scale is a more standardized questionnaire survey and is useful in assessing
service quality performance across a property and across different heritage attractions.
HISTOQUAL provides insights into which particular aspects of a dimension may pose a
problem thereby indicating suggestions for improvements. HISTOQUAL can also be used
to evaluate the success of the improvements undertaken. For instance, if service
improvement techniques are applied such as given staff with a new customer care
program or a new queuing system has been put in place, results on the HISTOQUAL scale
can be compared before and after the modi?cations in order to monitor the ef?ciency of the
changes (Frochot, 2001; Frochot and Hughes, 2000). Unlike SERVQUAL, in HISTOQUAL
mean scores are calculated for each item and dimension. By applying this HISTOQUAL
scale, the following sections discuss visitors’ perceptions of the service quality of Macao’s
World Heritage Site.
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Method
This paper investigates the service quality of Macao’s WH Site as perceived by visitors. The
study assesses the overall evaluation by visitors and further analysis is done to identify the
differences between the perception of the tourists and local residents on the issue. Higher
visitor satisfaction plays a very important role in shaping future travel behavior of tourists,
resulting in higher chances of re-visitation. Local residents can also help in promoting
cultural tourism by personally visiting the attractions as well as pulling their friends and
relatives from other countries to Macao. A supportive, enthusiastic local community can act
as an essential and potential cultural branding and marketing tool for the destination. As
Harrison (2002, p. 363) argues: ‘‘no matter how culturally and historically the area is, the
lasting impression for the visitor will be determined by the visitor’s perception of the ordinary
member of the community’s own opinion and respect for that culture’’. This can be achieved
only if local residents have a sense of belonging and feel good about their heritage
properties. As a result, visitor satisfaction level on the part of local residents cannot be
neglected.
Structured questionnaires are designed to obtain information in visitor satisfaction at the 30
world heritage attractions in Macao. The questionnaires are constructed based primarily on
the HISTOQUAL dimensions offered by Frochot (2001) and Frochot and Hughes (2000) as
previously discussed. The questionnaire is divided into three sections. Section one aims to
understand travel purposes and forms of the two groups of visitors, tourist and residents.
Section two examines the deviation of satisfaction on the dimensions at the WH attractions
between the two parties. Section three identi?es the demographic characteristics of the
respondents. Both the open-ended and close-ended questions are used in the
questionnaire. The closed-end questions are designed for quick completion, and largely
used checklists requiring ticks in boxes. Following the HISTOQUAL scale, respondents are
asked to rate the perceived quality of the services provided at the heritage attractions on a
?ve-point Likert scale (1 ¼ strongly disagree to 5 ¼ strongly agree). Opportunities are also
given to comment openly on the issue in the open-ended questions. To ensure the reliability
Table II Dimensions of HISTOQUAL
Responsiveness Staff are always helpful and courteous
Staff are willing to take time with visitors
Visitors are made to feel welcome
Level of crowding is tolerable
Staff are well informed to answer customers’ requests
Visitors feel free to explore, there are no restrictions to access
The property and grounds are opened at convenient hours
Staff are always available when needed
Tangibles The property is well kept and restored
The general cleanliness and upkeep of the property and grounds are
satisfying
The grounds are attractive
The site has remained authentic
Direction signs to showaround the property and grounds are clear and
helpful
The garden and/or park contain a large variety of plants
The interior of the house offers a lot of interesting things to look at
Communication The written lea?ets provide enough information
The information on the property and grounds is detailed enough
Visitors are well informed of the different facilities and attractions
available at the property
Foreign language lea?ets are helpful
Consumables The restaurant offers a wide variety of dishes and refreshments
The shop offers a large variety of goods
The restaurant’s staff provide ef?cient service
Empathy The property considers the needs of less able visitors
Facilities for children are provided
Source: Frochot and Hughes (2000, p. 161)
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and validity of the data set, ten pilot interviews are conducted prior to the main data
collection process.
The surveys took place from April 2007 to August 2007. Students of the Institute For Tourism
Studies (the only government-owned tourism college in Macao) are hired and trained to
conduct the interviews and are assigned to station in different world heritage attractions. Of
the 30 designated world heritage attractions in Macao, only 27 of them are included in the
survey because three sites were closed for renovation purpose at the time the surveys took
place. Quota sampling is used so as to ensure that various subgroups of a population will be
represented on pertinent characteristics to the exact extent that the investigator desires
(Zikmund, 1994). For each attraction, 40 visitors (preferably divided equally by tourists and
local residents) are interviewed. However, in some remote sites, dif?culties are encountered
in obtaining the targeted visitors. In the end, a total of 1,056 respondents are successfully
interviewed. The quantitative data generated from surveys is analyzed using the SPSS
package to detect patterns and deviation among variables.
Findings
Travel behavior pro?le of visitors to heritage attractions in Macao
Table III summarizes the demographic and travel characteristics of visitors to heritage
attractions in Macao. Results show that the proportion of male to female tourists is quite
similar to that of local residents, with a higher percentage of female respondents being
recorded for both parties. Around 75 percent and 60 percent of the tourists and residents are
within the age group of 18-37 years old respectively. For the educational level, the biggest
group among the tourists (59 percent) is the one who have achieved university degree or
above while the biggest group from the local residents (45 percent) is the one with
secondary school education. In terms of the monthly before tax income of the respondents,
more than 50 percent of the tourists earn a monthly income between MOP5,001 (USD625)
and 15,000 (USD1,875). In the case of residents, majority of the respondents earn
MOP10,000 (USD1,250) or below.
Over 72 percent of the tourists state that it is their ?rst time to visit the site under evaluation.
This result is completely opposite to the one found for the local residents. Majority (73
percent) of the locals state that it is not their ?rst-time visit. The result may imply that local
residents are relatively familiar with the heritage attractions through more frequent visits. The
tourists are asked whether this is their ?rst trip to Macao, their answers are almost split into
equal halves. Their main purpose of trip is visiting world heritage sites (47 percent). The
popularity of this purpose may be attributed by the fact that respondents are being
intercepted after visiting the heritage attractions. The second mostly cited purpose is
shopping (18 percent). It is followed by visiting relatives or friends (10 percent).
Evaluation of visitor satisfaction at Macao World Heritage Site
Table IV shows the average scores of the ?ve HISTOQUAL dimensions and the ?nal average
scores of individual attractions. The overall satisfaction level of visitors on the service quality
provided on the 27 attractions is high, with an average score of 3.5 (local residents ¼ 3:4,
tourists ¼ 3:5). Of the ?ve dimensions, visitors are most satis?ed with the Responsiveness
dimension (3.8), especially items like convenient opening hours of the spots (4.2), which
both groups of visitors rate the highest among all the items in the ?ve dimensions, and the
freedomof exploration and access to the spots (4.1). Visitors rate Tangibles (3.6) the second
highest score, followed by Consumables (3.3) and Communication (3.1). They indicate least
satis?ed with the dimension on Empathy (2.5).
Further analyzing the satisfaction scores of the ?ve dimensions, similar results are obtained
from both the tourists and residents. Both groups rate the dimension of Responsiveness as
the one that they are most satis?ed with, the average score was 3.8 as rated by both tourists
and residents. The scores for Tangibles are just a bit below, with 3.6 for both groups.
Consumables comes after Tangibles and Communication ranks fourth among the
dimensions, with scores touching the neutral score of 3.0. Tourists even rate this
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dimension as 3.1 when compared with residents who rate it a relatively higher score, 3.2.
Empathy is the dimension with the lowest score among the ?ve dimensions. The tourists and
residents both rate this dimension as 2.5, indicating dissatisfaction in this aspect.
Although both tourist and residents seem to be sharing the same satisfaction level as
re?ected in the overall satisfaction score for the heritage attractions and the ranking of
the ?ve dimensions, Chi-Square test is used to test the difference between the two
population means. Signi?cant difference is found in some of the items under the three
dimensions:
Table III Pro?les of respondents
Tourists
(n ¼ 568, 53.8%)
Residents
(n ¼ 488, 46.2%)
Variable Count % Count %
Sex
Male 255 44.9 209 42.8
Female 313 55.1 279 57.2
Age
18-27 years old 205 36.1 174 35.7
28-37 years old 220 38.7 117 24.0
38-47 years old 80 14.1 77 15.8
48-57 years old 49 8.6 71 14.5
58 or above 14 2.5 49 10.0
Education
Primary 11 2.0 63 12.9
High school 182 32.3 217 44.6
Vocational/technical school
University 302 53.5 175 35.9
Postgraduate or above 32 5.7 8 1.6
Monthly income before tax (MOP
a
)
,5,000 94 18.2 181 38.8
5,001-10,000 133 25.8 138 29.6
10,001-15,000 132 25.6 88 18.9
15,001-20,000 77 14.9 45 9.7
20,001-25,000 44 8.5 13 2.8
.25,000 36 7.0 1 0.2
This is the ?rst-time visit to the site under evaluation
No 152 27.6 309 72.9
Yes 399 72.4 115 27.1
Form of travel of this trip to Macao
Traveling in tours 41 7.2 n/a n/a
Traveling on one’s own 527 92.8 n/a n/a
This is the ?rst trip to Macao
No 238 49.7 n/a n/a
Yes 241 50.3 n/a n/a
Main purpose of this trip
Business 16 2.8 n/a n/a
Shopping 102 18.0 n/a n/a
Visiting world heritage sites 264 46.6 n/a n/a
Gaming 24 4.2 n/a n/a
Visiting relatives or friends 56 9.9 n/a n/a
Relaxation 16 2.8 n/a n/a
Food 13 2.3 n/a n/a
Spending holidays 53 9.3 n/a n/a
Others 23 4.1 n/a n/a
Notes:
a
1 USD < MOP8 n/a ¼ not applicable; n ¼ 1,056
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1. Responsiveness.
2. Tangibles.
3. Consumables.
For the dimension on Responsiveness, signi?cant difference is identi?ed for the two items:
level of crowding and staff availability. Tourists rate the level of crowding in the attractions as
more tolerable than local residents. The reason may be that residents are more aware of the
changes in the crowdedness of Macao as the number of tourists keeps on increasing at a
very rapid rate from7 million in 1998 to 27 million in 2007, a 286 percent increase in 10 years’
time (The Statistics and Census Service, 2008c). In the case of staff availability at the
heritage attractions, residents are relatively satis?ed with this item than tourists. The reason
may be that tourists are newto the place and they expect more assistance when they visit the
attractions.
Signi?cant difference is also identi?ed in the dimension of Tangibles. Tourists show a higher
satisfaction level than residents in terms of the general cleanliness and upkeep of the
property and grounds. As residents may have more chances of coming into contact with
these attractions, they are more conscious of the changes in the cleanliness and upkeep
Table IV Mean scores of HISTOQUAL dimensions
Mean satisfaction scores
Dimensions Items Tourists Residents Chi Square
Responsiveness Staff are always helpful and courteous 3.7 3.7 2.6
Staff are willing to take time with visitors 3.7 3.7 1.3
Visitors are made to feel welcome 3.4 3.5 2.7
Level of crowding is tolerable 3.9 3.9 16.3
a
Staff are well informed to answer customers’ requests 3.6 3.6 3.8
Visitors feel free to explore, there are no restrictions to
access 4.1 4.1 3.1
The property and grounds are opened at convenient hours 4.2 4.2 5.7
Staff are always available when needed 3.5 3.6 23.8
a
Average score of this dimension 3.8 3.8
Tangibles The property is well kept and restored 3.9 3.8 8.1
The general cleanliness and upkeep of the property and
grounds are satisfying 4.0 3.9 12.9
a
The grounds are attractive 3.6 3.6 3.5
The site has remained authentic 3.7 3.6 4.9
Direction signs to show around the property and grounds
are clear and helpful 3.4 3.4 7.7
The garden and/or park contain a large variety of plants 3.3 3.3 1.7
The interior of the house offers a lot of interesting things to
look at 3.5 3.5 1.9
Average score of this dimension 3.6 3.6
Communication The written lea?ets provide enough information 3.4 3.4 2.0
The information on the property and grounds is detailed
enough 3.2 3.3 2.5
Visitors are well informed of the different facilities and
attractions available at the property 2.8 2.9 4.2
Foreign language lea?ets are helpful 2.9 3.0 3.9
Average score of this dimension 3.1 3.2
Consumables The restaurant offers a wide variety of dishes and
refreshments 3.7 3.4 14.7
a
The shop offers a large variety of goods 3.5 3.2 11.5
a
The restaurant’s staff provide ef?cient service 3.2 3.1 9.3
Average score of this dimension 3.4 3.2
Empathy The property considers the needs of less able visitors 2.5 2.6 3.6
Facilities for children are provided 2.5 2.5 6.0
Average score of this dimension 2.5 2.5
Overall score for all dimensions 3.5 3.4
Note:
a
Statistically signi?cant ( p , 0.05)
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issues of the spots. In the dimension of Consumables, satisfaction level is also signi?cantly
different between tourists and residents in two aspects, namely variety of dishes and
refreshments of the restaurant and variety of goods from the shop. Residents are relatively
less satis?ed than tourists. Again, residents may patronize the restaurants and the shops in
the attractions more and they may have higher demand for product varieties which can
stimulate repeat patronage. For the dimensions on Communication and Empathy, no
signi?cant difference is being identi?ed. Both tourists and residents are less satis?ed with
these two dimensions, with the biggest dissatisfaction in the Empathy dimension.
Respondents are particularly dissatis?ed with the insuf?cient provision of facilities for
children in the heritage attractions, believing that the needs of children are not properly
addressed in these attractions.
Discussions and conclusion
Thispioneeringandexploratorystudyhasexaminedvisitors’ opinionsontheservicequalityon
theWorldHeritage(WH) SiteinMacaobyapplyingtheHISTOQUALscale. Thisisanimportant
study for the city because there has been no formal study of this topic since the listing of the
Historic Center of Macao in 2005. Most of these informal studies are focusing on the tourists’
perceptions and few concerns about the local. Realizing that only gaining a WH brand is not
enoughtomaintainitscompetitivenessinthe?ercemarketplace, thisresearchoffersimportant
insights to the Macao Government and local tourism authorities on their existing service
performances and the things needed to be improved in managing heritage attractions.
Results of this study show that the HISTOQUAL scale is useful in many aspects. First, it
provides a more comprehensive scale in measuring service quality on heritage sites by
including both the tangible and intangible dimensions that are applicable to the cultural
heritage contexts. This enables an assessment of the overall service quality in the 27
heritage attractions to be conducted in a more holistic manner, avoiding the fragmented
approach that the existing literature has adopted. The results indicate that the overall
satisfaction level on the service quality of Macao’s WH Site is high, achieving an average
score of 3.5. This illustrates that Macao’s WH has gained a certain extent of competitiveness
in the market but at the same time there is still room for improvement including the
‘‘Empathy’’ and ‘‘Consumables’’ dimensions.
In addition, the scale is useful in the sense that it allows assessment to be done on each item
and dimension. This helps identifying areas that perform particularly well and the potential
areas of improvement. In this case, Responsiveness, especially with the convenient opening
hours of the spots and the freedom of exploration and access to the spots, receives the
highest score among the ?ve dimensions. Score on the Empathy dimension is rated as the
lowest. Both tourists and residents rate poorly the efforts to care for special needs of the
less-abled visitors and children. It is recognized that historical buildings can be a dif?cult
product to adapt for special needs. Narrow steps and people with walking dif?culties or
sitting on a wheel chair may ?nd dif?culties in accessing the upper ?oors. Open spaces and
squares are easier to adapt for special needs. Communication is another issue that needed
special attention. Both tourists and residents rate the itemon the availability of information on
different facilities and attractions belowthe neutral point of 3.0. This ?nding implies that more
on-site information on the attractions has to be provided to enhance the visitor experience.
Moreover, the tourists also rate the item on foreign language lea?ets in the Communication
dimension with a score below 3.0, probably implying that foreign language lea?ets are either
insuf?cient or unavailable for tourists. From these ?ndings, more work has to be done in
improving both Empathy and Communication dimensions to improve the perceived service
quality of visitors on Macao heritage attractions.
The ?ndings also enable the tourismplanners to obtain more detailed information of opinions
of the two groups of visitors. Signi?cant differences in the scores of some of the ?ve aspects
are recorded. Residents have a relatively low satisfaction score for most items except the
availability of staff at the spots. This implies that the residents are generally less satis?ed with
the heritage attractions than the tourists. This is not a good sign because if local people
themselves do not have a strong cultural sense of place and take pride in their historical
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assets, tourists can hardly feel and identify the local culture. Also, people will show more
supports to the government tourism policies and plans if they see the bene?t from the
tourism activity (Harrison, 2002). Even worst is that if their views are often being ignored,
residents will gradually pile up negative feelings towards tourists. Residents’ feelings have to
be addressed appropriately.
In Macao, local residents showparticularly dissatisfaction with the level of crowding, general
cleanliness and upkeep of sites, and variety offered by restaurants and shops. This echoes
with a survey conducted by the Institute For Tourism Studies reporting that Macao has
exceeded the upper limit of its tourism carrying capacity in the areas of restaurants and
boarder gate. Respondents of this survey also disagree with the fact that Macao can be
bene?ted more if the number of tourist keeps on increasing (Institute For Tourism Studies,
2008). This point implies the urgent need of the government to reduce the social impacts of
tourism on the local community. In Macao, tourists are concentrated in the three most
popular heritage attractions, namely the ruins of St Paul’s, the A-Ma Temple and the Leal
Senado Building because they are considered as the landmarks of Macao and are
frequently promoted by the Macao Government Tourist Of?ce. More provision of facilities
such as parking and lighting in those sites is another reason which leads to higher tourist
visitation (Wan and Pinheiro, 2005). Therefore, in order to ease the feeling of
over-crowdedness of particular attractions, the government should put more effort in
marketing and promoting other unpopular or under-utilized heritage attractions in order to
channel visitors to different attractions. Since many heritage attractions in Macao are not
reachable by public transport, it is essential that public transport and networks are available
to help bringing tourists to the unreached attractions. Besides, more provision of facilities
such as parking, toilets, restaurants and souvenir shops in the non-popular sites are also
needed. For the tourists, they are most concerned with staff availability for offering help to
them during the visits. By pinpointing these issues, it can help to satisfy the two niche
markets for the Historic Center of Macao.
In a nutshell, the results echo with Bonn et al.’s (2007) ?ndings that rather than spending
millions on creating impressive exteriors, elaborate ?ooring and promotions to improve
visitors numbers, heritage managers in Macao should ?rst try less expensive improvements
that address minor issues like managing traf?c and site control, providing multiple
languages guides and materials and increasing staff availability and service quality, as well
as improving the existing facilities (i.e. larger aisle space and children playground) to cater
for visitors’ needs.
Limitations and future research
The Historic Center of Macao is made up with urban squares, streetscapes and monuments.
From the data collected using the HISTOQUAL dimensions, dif?culty is found in applying
some of items in the dimensions to the evaluation of service quality in some of the sites.
Especially in the case of squares and streetscapes, staff are unavailable and majority of the
items on Responsiveness cannot be applied there. Referring to the answers derived fromthe
open-ended questions, streetscapes and ambiances have often been mentioned as key
factors contributing to their overall satisfaction and perceptions on the service quality. This is
evidenced by the comments received from the respondents like ‘‘interesting alleys which
connect different heritage properties’’, ‘‘nice decorations (i.e. pictures, paintings,
sculptures) along those streets which mix well between the Portuguese and Chinese
cultures’’, and ‘‘excellent music played in churches and sound effects in temples’’. Such
streetscape, urban furniture and ambience factors are not highlighted in the HISTOQUAL
scale. This may be due to the fact that the items in the HISTOQUAL dimensions are mainly
derived fromthe evaluation of visitor experience in historical houses. Opportunities for future
research therefore are available in modifying the items in the HISTOQUAL scale so that they
may better be used to evaluate visitor satisfaction for different kinds of cultural sites. Further
researches should also be conducted in developing a new and complete set of service
quality dimensions for assessing Macao’s cultural heritages.
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Finally, this study aims mainly to explore the overall satisfaction level on the service quality of
Macao’s WHSite and the differences between the tourists and local residents on the issue. In
order to provide future insights that may help tourismmarketers to design speci?c promotion
and marketing strategies, investigations on whether other demographic pro?les such as
gender, tourist residing regions and length of stay, have different impact on the perceptions
of service quality are necessary.
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Corresponding author
Penny Yim King Wan can be contacted at: [email protected]
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doc_156182913.pdf
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the service quality of Macao’s World Heritage
(WH) site as perceived by visitors involving both tourists and local residents.
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
Service quality of Macao's world heritage site
Penny Yim King Wan Elizabeth I. Man Cheng
Article information:
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Penny Yim King Wan Elizabeth I. Man Cheng, (2011),"Service quality of Macao's world heritage site", International J ournal of Culture,
Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 5 Iss 1 pp. 57 - 68
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Service quality of Macao’s world
heritage site
Penny Yim King Wan and Elizabeth I. Man Cheng
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the service quality of Macao’s World Heritage
(WH) site as perceived by visitors involving both tourists and local residents.
Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data was collected via structured questionnaires to
obtain views of 1,056 visitors on the 27 world heritage attractions in Macao.
Findings – The overall visitor satisfaction level on the service quality of Macao’s WH was high but
dimensions on ‘‘empathy’’ and ‘‘consumables’’ needed improvements. Signi?cant differences were also
found between the tourists and local residents. Tourists rated the level of crowding as more tolerable
than local residents but less tolerable in terms of staff availability at attractions. Residents had a relatively
low satisfaction score for most items except the availability of staff than the tourists.
Practical implications – To attract more repeated visitors, the results highlighted the importance of
satisfying both groups of visitors by taking special care of the needy and children and offering more
on-site information. Managing well with the city’s tourism carrying capacity and providing more staff
service were also suggested to satisfy the local and tourist markets respectively.
Originality/value – Studies on service quality in heritage especially within the Macao context were
scarce. This pioneering study shed light on the service quality of Macao’s WH site and provided hints on
the differences in the perceived service quality between the tourists and local residents. More speci?c
government efforts can be exerted to satisfy the two niche markets in a more effective manner.
Keywords Service levels, Customer satisfaction, Heritage, China
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The evaluation of customer satisfaction and service quality is the primary goal for service
?rms that would like to survive in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Companies with
good service quality will lead to higher customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, resulting
in repeat purchases and pro?tability (Parasuraman, 2000; Rao and Keller, 1997). Keeping
tourists satis?ed and delighting them are of particular importance to the hospitality and
tourism industry. Customers’ consumption pattern has undergone a signi?cant
transformation recently. They are not merely looking for the traditional sun-sea-sand,
passive pleasure seeking holiday; but are increasingly demanding for service quality that
are considered as value for money (Sharpley and Forster, 2003). Providing service quality
thus will help improving satisfaction of visitors and this is believed to lead to repeat visits,
positive word-of-mouth and increased international visitation (Ramsaran-Fowadar, 2007).
Increasing recognition of the importance of enhancing service quality in cultural heritage
settings, however, appeared only since the late 1990s (Boyd and Timothy, 2003). Cities with
unique cultural heritages showinterests in developing cultural and heritage tourism, which is
one of the fastest growing tourism sectors nowadays. Boyd and Timothy (2003) observe that
the late 1990s has witnessed a renewed interest in travelers to rediscover the past. The
World Tourism Organization also estimates that 37 percent of all trips today involve a
DOI 10.1108/17506181111111762 VOL. 5 NO. 1 2011, pp. 57-68, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1750-6182
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PAGE 57
Penny Yim King Wan is
based in the Faculty of
Business Administration,
University of Macau, Taipa,
Macao, China. Elizabeth I.
Man Cheng is based at the
Institute for Tourism
Studies, Colina de
Mong-Ha, Macao, China.
The authors thank the Institute
for Tourism Studies for
sponsoring the funding for the
data collection of this research.
Received: November 2008
Revised: March 2009
Accepted: March 2009
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cultural/heritage component (Boyd and Timothy, 2003). Boniface and Fowler (1993, p. 15)
explain this phenomenon by arguing that some people who ‘‘do have varied and exciting
lives may yearn for periods of peace and quiet’’. Cultural tourism therefore seems to be able
to meet human needs deep within. As people become more af?uent and have accumulated
substantial traveling experiences, some begin to look for new tourist experiences in special
interest tourism such as cultural heritage tourism. In order to attract these cultural visitors
and encourage repeated visitation, the provision of excellent service quality becomes
essential to any heritage destinations.
This study explores the service quality issues in Macao’s World Heritage Site. Macao is
located on the southeastern coast of China to the West of the Pearl River Delta, and is
approximately 60 km southwest of Hong Kong. It is 28.2 km
2
in size and has a total
population of about 552,000 (The Statistics and Census Service, 2008a). After 450 years as
a Portuguese colony, Macao’s administration was handed over to China on 20 December
1999. The settlement of Macao by the Portuguese in 1555 not only laid the basis for trade
and cultural exchange between the East and the West, it also represented the exchange of
values between the Chinese and Portuguese, producing a unique cultural heritage. The
Historic Center of Macao was subsequently enlisted by the United Nations Educational,
Scienti?c and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as part of the world heritage on 15 July 2005,
making it the 31st heritage site in China. The Historic Center of Macao encompasses
twenty-two monuments and eight squares (or piazzas) (Macau Government Tourist Of?ce,
2007).
Although substantial government efforts have been put in marketing campaigns, such as
designating the year of 2006 as ‘‘Macao World Heritage Year’’ and implementing the
‘‘Heritage Passport’’ to reward those tourists who have visited the heritage attractions, etc.,
very little efforts have been exerted to enhance the service quality of those attractions. One
of the major problems Macao is currently facing is that not many tourists actually come for
visiting the city’s famous cultural heritages, despite of the drastic increase in the numbers of
tourist from only 9 million in 2000 to 27 million in 2007 (The Statistics and Census Service,
2008b). According to Cheng (2007), the top vacation motives for single destination travelers
were shopping, traveling to a nearby destination and escaping from daily routine. Visiting
world heritage attractions was only ranked the forth. Local residents are not clear where the
world heritage attractions are and some of the attractions are being misused by the public.
An example is the Sam Kai Vui Kun Temple, a Chinese temple located next to a food market
and residential complex. Local people always park their motorcycles in front of this
attraction, blocking the entrance and exit (Wan and Pinheiro, 2005). Reasons attributing to
low interest of visitors to visit the city’s rich cultural heritages are many. The lack of
attractions, poor management, maintenance and service delivery on the sites as reported in
Wan and Pinheiro’s (2005) study are probably some of them. This study therefore aims to
contribute to the Macao Government on the ways to attract more cultural visitors by
examining visitors’ perceptions on the service quality provided in the city’s WH attractions.
The result may be bene?cial to other WH destinations.
Literature review: service quality in the cultural heritage context
Researchers de?ne quality in different ways and there is no agreed de?nition of service
quality (Kandampully, 2000). Feigenbaum (1956) de?nes quality as value. Crosby (1979)
de?nes quality as conformance. Juran (1980) de?nes quality as ?tness for use while
Parasuraman et al. (1985) come up with the de?nition of meeting customers’ expectations
However, within the service sector, de?ning quality follows from a customer’s perspective
and should aim to meet customers’ expectations (Parasuraman et al., 1985). Service quality
can neither be conceptualized nor evaluated by traditional methods of product quality
because service possesses three main characteristics: intangibles, heterogeneity and
inseparability (Parasuraman et al., 1985, 1988). For this reason, many researchers have
de?ned and conceptualized service quality as a form of attitude, which results from a
comparison of customers’ expectations with perceptions of performance (Parasuraman
et al., 1985, 1988).
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In measuring service quality, Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry in 1985 has introduced an
instrument called SERVQUAL and it has been commonly used. SERVQUAL measures the
‘‘gap’’ between customers’ expectations and the performance they actually receive by ?ve
dimensions (reduced from ten original items), namely ‘ ‘tangibles’ ’, ‘ ‘reliability’ ’,
‘‘responsiveness’’, ‘‘assurance’’ and ‘‘empathy’’ through two sets of 20 statements, rated
on a seven-point Likert scale (Parasuraman et al., 1988) (see Table I). The smaller the gap,
the better the quality of service and the greater the customer satisfaction. Since its inception,
the SERVQUAL scale has been widely used by both academics and practicing managers
across industries including those within the hospitality and tourism industry. Examples
include the studies by Tribe and Snaith (1998), Saleh and Ryan (1992) and Wong et al.
(1999). Although SERVQUAL has been criticized for its underlying gap approach, including
its core constructs of consumer satisfaction, expectations and quality (Chadee and
Mattsson, 1996), its methodology (Johns and Hoseason, 2001) as well its inability to be
re-applied to different service sectors such as cultural heritage (Frochot and Hughes, 2000);
it is widely considered as a useful tool in studying service quality. Laws et al. (2006, p. 6)
state that the SERVQUAL scale ‘‘highlights unequivocally the centrality of quality in service
research and management. It emphasizes the complexity of managing service
experiences’’. Frochot (2001) and Frochot and Hughes (2000) also believe that it can be
used as a ‘‘skeleton’’ and further develops to apply into new contexts.
Researches on service quality and customer satisfaction in heritage settings are limited.
They can be categorized into several categories. Some studies focus on investigating how
the physical attributes of heritage sites affect visitors’ overall satisfaction. An example
includes Black’s (2001) research which examines the roles played by design and
management of psychical environment on meeting the needs, expectations and behavior of
different types of visitors and contributed to their tourism experience. Bonn et al. (2007)
investigate the effect of some basic environmental elements on visitors to museum,
aquarium, performing arts center, and zoo in Tampa, Florida and conclude that the heritage
attraction’s physical environment such as lighting, color, signage, spaciousness and traf?c
?ow, etc., play an important role in determining both visitors’ attitude toward the heritage
attraction and future re-patronage intentions, as well as their willingness to recommend the
experience to friends and relatives.
Other researches explore the intangible aspects of service quality concerning how the
service is delivered or the interaction between employees and customers during the service
encounters. Laws (1998), for example, develop a service blueprint technique which maps
out a service system to help improving service delivery in heritage settings. Cooper et al.
(2006) study the backpackers’ behavior and perceptions on the WH sites in Fraser Island,
Queensland, Australia and conclude that the failure to insist on truly effective service quality
with respect to the environment by the site managers, coupled with a laissez-faire culture
towards the environment on the part of visitors, have resulted in poor service management
and low visitor satisfaction at the site.
Other studies attempt to understand whether there are differences in the importance of
attributes and satisfaction levels among different demographic and ethnic groups. For
instance, Jewell (2007) observes that Japanese visitors traveling to Australian’s heritage
Table I Dimensions of SERVQUAL
Dimensions Variables
Tangibles Physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel
Reliability Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately
Responsiveness Willingness to help consumers and provide prompt service
Assurance Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust
and con?dence
Empathy Caring, individualized attention the ?rm provides to its customers
Source: Parasuraman et al. (1988)
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sites are more interested in learning about the history of the sites while American visitors are
more attracted by the architecture of monuments and historical buildings. This research
points to the need of analyzing the role of culture played regarding attitudes and values
towards heritage. Huh and Uysal (2003) explore the relationship between cultural/heritage
destination attributes and overall satisfaction in Virginia Historic Triangle (Williamsburg,
Jamestown, and York Town), and ?nd that factors like accessibility, indoor facilities,
ambiance, and accommodation types are important source of satisfaction or dissatisfaction
for tourists who are repeat visitors. Female visitors tend to value the elements of handicraft,
architecture, scenery, and art (music and dance) as part of their experience more than male
visitors.
Finally, some individual studies address the issue from the management and psychology
perspectives. Deery and Jago (2001), for instance, take a human resource approach and
argue that the attitudes and abilities of staff have a crucial impact on the way the service is
delivered to visitors and will therefore affect their enjoyment of the visit and their perceptions
of the attraction. Jago and Deery’s (2001) study reports that a successful volunteer program
helps delivering quality visitor experience at a historical visitor attraction. Rojas and
Camarero (2007), however, adopt a cognitive approach and observe that the visitor’s
expectations are affected by both cognitive (perceived quality) and emotional (pleasure)
experience, and these are direct determinants of satisfaction. Last but not the least, Burnett’s
(2001) study discuss how ‘‘real authenticity’’ instead of ‘‘attractively authenticity’’ can
enhance visitors’ satisfaction.
The literature review provides useful insights on how the term ‘‘service quality’’ or ‘‘visitor
satisfaction’’ is commonly understood by different scholars and the dimensions and
perspectives that are used in assessing service quality in cultural heritage settings.
However, researches on service quality in cultural heritage contexts are still limited. Each
attempts to examine a single aspect of the issue fragmentally. This echoes with Frochot and
Hughes’s (2000, p. 157) view that ‘‘the analysis of service quality in this ?eld [heritage] has
been addressed by a few researches, the information provided by these studies is often
limited since they tend to analyze separately the different elements constituting service
quality and lack of a holistic view of its main components’’. Certainly, a more comprehensive
and holistic study framework is required.
Although the SERVQUAL scale has been subjected to several criticisms as discussed
earlier, it is considered useful as a ‘‘skeleton’’ and adapt to new contexts (Frochot, 2001;
Frochot and Hughes, 2000; Parasuraman et al., 1988). In order to allow researchers to be
able to use the SERVQUAL scale in measuring service quality in the heritage context,
Frochot and Hughes (2000) and Frochot (2001) have re-modi?ed the scale into a new one
called HISTOQUAL with ?ve modi?ed dimensions, namely ‘‘responsiveness’’, ‘‘tangibles’’,
‘‘communication’’, ‘‘consumables’’ and ‘‘empathy’’ (Table II). This HISTOQUAL scale has
taken into account of the fact that the service encounters characterizing the service
provided in heritage sites are unique and covered a wider range of components such as
direction signs, staff attitude, catering and retailing facilities, special care towards disabled
and children and so forth (Yale, 1991). According to Frochot and Hughes (2000), the
HISTOQUAL scale is a more standardized questionnaire survey and is useful in assessing
service quality performance across a property and across different heritage attractions.
HISTOQUAL provides insights into which particular aspects of a dimension may pose a
problem thereby indicating suggestions for improvements. HISTOQUAL can also be used
to evaluate the success of the improvements undertaken. For instance, if service
improvement techniques are applied such as given staff with a new customer care
program or a new queuing system has been put in place, results on the HISTOQUAL scale
can be compared before and after the modi?cations in order to monitor the ef?ciency of the
changes (Frochot, 2001; Frochot and Hughes, 2000). Unlike SERVQUAL, in HISTOQUAL
mean scores are calculated for each item and dimension. By applying this HISTOQUAL
scale, the following sections discuss visitors’ perceptions of the service quality of Macao’s
World Heritage Site.
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Method
This paper investigates the service quality of Macao’s WH Site as perceived by visitors. The
study assesses the overall evaluation by visitors and further analysis is done to identify the
differences between the perception of the tourists and local residents on the issue. Higher
visitor satisfaction plays a very important role in shaping future travel behavior of tourists,
resulting in higher chances of re-visitation. Local residents can also help in promoting
cultural tourism by personally visiting the attractions as well as pulling their friends and
relatives from other countries to Macao. A supportive, enthusiastic local community can act
as an essential and potential cultural branding and marketing tool for the destination. As
Harrison (2002, p. 363) argues: ‘‘no matter how culturally and historically the area is, the
lasting impression for the visitor will be determined by the visitor’s perception of the ordinary
member of the community’s own opinion and respect for that culture’’. This can be achieved
only if local residents have a sense of belonging and feel good about their heritage
properties. As a result, visitor satisfaction level on the part of local residents cannot be
neglected.
Structured questionnaires are designed to obtain information in visitor satisfaction at the 30
world heritage attractions in Macao. The questionnaires are constructed based primarily on
the HISTOQUAL dimensions offered by Frochot (2001) and Frochot and Hughes (2000) as
previously discussed. The questionnaire is divided into three sections. Section one aims to
understand travel purposes and forms of the two groups of visitors, tourist and residents.
Section two examines the deviation of satisfaction on the dimensions at the WH attractions
between the two parties. Section three identi?es the demographic characteristics of the
respondents. Both the open-ended and close-ended questions are used in the
questionnaire. The closed-end questions are designed for quick completion, and largely
used checklists requiring ticks in boxes. Following the HISTOQUAL scale, respondents are
asked to rate the perceived quality of the services provided at the heritage attractions on a
?ve-point Likert scale (1 ¼ strongly disagree to 5 ¼ strongly agree). Opportunities are also
given to comment openly on the issue in the open-ended questions. To ensure the reliability
Table II Dimensions of HISTOQUAL
Responsiveness Staff are always helpful and courteous
Staff are willing to take time with visitors
Visitors are made to feel welcome
Level of crowding is tolerable
Staff are well informed to answer customers’ requests
Visitors feel free to explore, there are no restrictions to access
The property and grounds are opened at convenient hours
Staff are always available when needed
Tangibles The property is well kept and restored
The general cleanliness and upkeep of the property and grounds are
satisfying
The grounds are attractive
The site has remained authentic
Direction signs to showaround the property and grounds are clear and
helpful
The garden and/or park contain a large variety of plants
The interior of the house offers a lot of interesting things to look at
Communication The written lea?ets provide enough information
The information on the property and grounds is detailed enough
Visitors are well informed of the different facilities and attractions
available at the property
Foreign language lea?ets are helpful
Consumables The restaurant offers a wide variety of dishes and refreshments
The shop offers a large variety of goods
The restaurant’s staff provide ef?cient service
Empathy The property considers the needs of less able visitors
Facilities for children are provided
Source: Frochot and Hughes (2000, p. 161)
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and validity of the data set, ten pilot interviews are conducted prior to the main data
collection process.
The surveys took place from April 2007 to August 2007. Students of the Institute For Tourism
Studies (the only government-owned tourism college in Macao) are hired and trained to
conduct the interviews and are assigned to station in different world heritage attractions. Of
the 30 designated world heritage attractions in Macao, only 27 of them are included in the
survey because three sites were closed for renovation purpose at the time the surveys took
place. Quota sampling is used so as to ensure that various subgroups of a population will be
represented on pertinent characteristics to the exact extent that the investigator desires
(Zikmund, 1994). For each attraction, 40 visitors (preferably divided equally by tourists and
local residents) are interviewed. However, in some remote sites, dif?culties are encountered
in obtaining the targeted visitors. In the end, a total of 1,056 respondents are successfully
interviewed. The quantitative data generated from surveys is analyzed using the SPSS
package to detect patterns and deviation among variables.
Findings
Travel behavior pro?le of visitors to heritage attractions in Macao
Table III summarizes the demographic and travel characteristics of visitors to heritage
attractions in Macao. Results show that the proportion of male to female tourists is quite
similar to that of local residents, with a higher percentage of female respondents being
recorded for both parties. Around 75 percent and 60 percent of the tourists and residents are
within the age group of 18-37 years old respectively. For the educational level, the biggest
group among the tourists (59 percent) is the one who have achieved university degree or
above while the biggest group from the local residents (45 percent) is the one with
secondary school education. In terms of the monthly before tax income of the respondents,
more than 50 percent of the tourists earn a monthly income between MOP5,001 (USD625)
and 15,000 (USD1,875). In the case of residents, majority of the respondents earn
MOP10,000 (USD1,250) or below.
Over 72 percent of the tourists state that it is their ?rst time to visit the site under evaluation.
This result is completely opposite to the one found for the local residents. Majority (73
percent) of the locals state that it is not their ?rst-time visit. The result may imply that local
residents are relatively familiar with the heritage attractions through more frequent visits. The
tourists are asked whether this is their ?rst trip to Macao, their answers are almost split into
equal halves. Their main purpose of trip is visiting world heritage sites (47 percent). The
popularity of this purpose may be attributed by the fact that respondents are being
intercepted after visiting the heritage attractions. The second mostly cited purpose is
shopping (18 percent). It is followed by visiting relatives or friends (10 percent).
Evaluation of visitor satisfaction at Macao World Heritage Site
Table IV shows the average scores of the ?ve HISTOQUAL dimensions and the ?nal average
scores of individual attractions. The overall satisfaction level of visitors on the service quality
provided on the 27 attractions is high, with an average score of 3.5 (local residents ¼ 3:4,
tourists ¼ 3:5). Of the ?ve dimensions, visitors are most satis?ed with the Responsiveness
dimension (3.8), especially items like convenient opening hours of the spots (4.2), which
both groups of visitors rate the highest among all the items in the ?ve dimensions, and the
freedomof exploration and access to the spots (4.1). Visitors rate Tangibles (3.6) the second
highest score, followed by Consumables (3.3) and Communication (3.1). They indicate least
satis?ed with the dimension on Empathy (2.5).
Further analyzing the satisfaction scores of the ?ve dimensions, similar results are obtained
from both the tourists and residents. Both groups rate the dimension of Responsiveness as
the one that they are most satis?ed with, the average score was 3.8 as rated by both tourists
and residents. The scores for Tangibles are just a bit below, with 3.6 for both groups.
Consumables comes after Tangibles and Communication ranks fourth among the
dimensions, with scores touching the neutral score of 3.0. Tourists even rate this
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dimension as 3.1 when compared with residents who rate it a relatively higher score, 3.2.
Empathy is the dimension with the lowest score among the ?ve dimensions. The tourists and
residents both rate this dimension as 2.5, indicating dissatisfaction in this aspect.
Although both tourist and residents seem to be sharing the same satisfaction level as
re?ected in the overall satisfaction score for the heritage attractions and the ranking of
the ?ve dimensions, Chi-Square test is used to test the difference between the two
population means. Signi?cant difference is found in some of the items under the three
dimensions:
Table III Pro?les of respondents
Tourists
(n ¼ 568, 53.8%)
Residents
(n ¼ 488, 46.2%)
Variable Count % Count %
Sex
Male 255 44.9 209 42.8
Female 313 55.1 279 57.2
Age
18-27 years old 205 36.1 174 35.7
28-37 years old 220 38.7 117 24.0
38-47 years old 80 14.1 77 15.8
48-57 years old 49 8.6 71 14.5
58 or above 14 2.5 49 10.0
Education
Primary 11 2.0 63 12.9
High school 182 32.3 217 44.6
Vocational/technical school
University 302 53.5 175 35.9
Postgraduate or above 32 5.7 8 1.6
Monthly income before tax (MOP
a
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,5,000 94 18.2 181 38.8
5,001-10,000 133 25.8 138 29.6
10,001-15,000 132 25.6 88 18.9
15,001-20,000 77 14.9 45 9.7
20,001-25,000 44 8.5 13 2.8
.25,000 36 7.0 1 0.2
This is the ?rst-time visit to the site under evaluation
No 152 27.6 309 72.9
Yes 399 72.4 115 27.1
Form of travel of this trip to Macao
Traveling in tours 41 7.2 n/a n/a
Traveling on one’s own 527 92.8 n/a n/a
This is the ?rst trip to Macao
No 238 49.7 n/a n/a
Yes 241 50.3 n/a n/a
Main purpose of this trip
Business 16 2.8 n/a n/a
Shopping 102 18.0 n/a n/a
Visiting world heritage sites 264 46.6 n/a n/a
Gaming 24 4.2 n/a n/a
Visiting relatives or friends 56 9.9 n/a n/a
Relaxation 16 2.8 n/a n/a
Food 13 2.3 n/a n/a
Spending holidays 53 9.3 n/a n/a
Others 23 4.1 n/a n/a
Notes:
a
1 USD < MOP8 n/a ¼ not applicable; n ¼ 1,056
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1. Responsiveness.
2. Tangibles.
3. Consumables.
For the dimension on Responsiveness, signi?cant difference is identi?ed for the two items:
level of crowding and staff availability. Tourists rate the level of crowding in the attractions as
more tolerable than local residents. The reason may be that residents are more aware of the
changes in the crowdedness of Macao as the number of tourists keeps on increasing at a
very rapid rate from7 million in 1998 to 27 million in 2007, a 286 percent increase in 10 years’
time (The Statistics and Census Service, 2008c). In the case of staff availability at the
heritage attractions, residents are relatively satis?ed with this item than tourists. The reason
may be that tourists are newto the place and they expect more assistance when they visit the
attractions.
Signi?cant difference is also identi?ed in the dimension of Tangibles. Tourists show a higher
satisfaction level than residents in terms of the general cleanliness and upkeep of the
property and grounds. As residents may have more chances of coming into contact with
these attractions, they are more conscious of the changes in the cleanliness and upkeep
Table IV Mean scores of HISTOQUAL dimensions
Mean satisfaction scores
Dimensions Items Tourists Residents Chi Square
Responsiveness Staff are always helpful and courteous 3.7 3.7 2.6
Staff are willing to take time with visitors 3.7 3.7 1.3
Visitors are made to feel welcome 3.4 3.5 2.7
Level of crowding is tolerable 3.9 3.9 16.3
a
Staff are well informed to answer customers’ requests 3.6 3.6 3.8
Visitors feel free to explore, there are no restrictions to
access 4.1 4.1 3.1
The property and grounds are opened at convenient hours 4.2 4.2 5.7
Staff are always available when needed 3.5 3.6 23.8
a
Average score of this dimension 3.8 3.8
Tangibles The property is well kept and restored 3.9 3.8 8.1
The general cleanliness and upkeep of the property and
grounds are satisfying 4.0 3.9 12.9
a
The grounds are attractive 3.6 3.6 3.5
The site has remained authentic 3.7 3.6 4.9
Direction signs to show around the property and grounds
are clear and helpful 3.4 3.4 7.7
The garden and/or park contain a large variety of plants 3.3 3.3 1.7
The interior of the house offers a lot of interesting things to
look at 3.5 3.5 1.9
Average score of this dimension 3.6 3.6
Communication The written lea?ets provide enough information 3.4 3.4 2.0
The information on the property and grounds is detailed
enough 3.2 3.3 2.5
Visitors are well informed of the different facilities and
attractions available at the property 2.8 2.9 4.2
Foreign language lea?ets are helpful 2.9 3.0 3.9
Average score of this dimension 3.1 3.2
Consumables The restaurant offers a wide variety of dishes and
refreshments 3.7 3.4 14.7
a
The shop offers a large variety of goods 3.5 3.2 11.5
a
The restaurant’s staff provide ef?cient service 3.2 3.1 9.3
Average score of this dimension 3.4 3.2
Empathy The property considers the needs of less able visitors 2.5 2.6 3.6
Facilities for children are provided 2.5 2.5 6.0
Average score of this dimension 2.5 2.5
Overall score for all dimensions 3.5 3.4
Note:
a
Statistically signi?cant ( p , 0.05)
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issues of the spots. In the dimension of Consumables, satisfaction level is also signi?cantly
different between tourists and residents in two aspects, namely variety of dishes and
refreshments of the restaurant and variety of goods from the shop. Residents are relatively
less satis?ed than tourists. Again, residents may patronize the restaurants and the shops in
the attractions more and they may have higher demand for product varieties which can
stimulate repeat patronage. For the dimensions on Communication and Empathy, no
signi?cant difference is being identi?ed. Both tourists and residents are less satis?ed with
these two dimensions, with the biggest dissatisfaction in the Empathy dimension.
Respondents are particularly dissatis?ed with the insuf?cient provision of facilities for
children in the heritage attractions, believing that the needs of children are not properly
addressed in these attractions.
Discussions and conclusion
Thispioneeringandexploratorystudyhasexaminedvisitors’ opinionsontheservicequalityon
theWorldHeritage(WH) SiteinMacaobyapplyingtheHISTOQUALscale. Thisisanimportant
study for the city because there has been no formal study of this topic since the listing of the
Historic Center of Macao in 2005. Most of these informal studies are focusing on the tourists’
perceptions and few concerns about the local. Realizing that only gaining a WH brand is not
enoughtomaintainitscompetitivenessinthe?ercemarketplace, thisresearchoffersimportant
insights to the Macao Government and local tourism authorities on their existing service
performances and the things needed to be improved in managing heritage attractions.
Results of this study show that the HISTOQUAL scale is useful in many aspects. First, it
provides a more comprehensive scale in measuring service quality on heritage sites by
including both the tangible and intangible dimensions that are applicable to the cultural
heritage contexts. This enables an assessment of the overall service quality in the 27
heritage attractions to be conducted in a more holistic manner, avoiding the fragmented
approach that the existing literature has adopted. The results indicate that the overall
satisfaction level on the service quality of Macao’s WH Site is high, achieving an average
score of 3.5. This illustrates that Macao’s WH has gained a certain extent of competitiveness
in the market but at the same time there is still room for improvement including the
‘‘Empathy’’ and ‘‘Consumables’’ dimensions.
In addition, the scale is useful in the sense that it allows assessment to be done on each item
and dimension. This helps identifying areas that perform particularly well and the potential
areas of improvement. In this case, Responsiveness, especially with the convenient opening
hours of the spots and the freedom of exploration and access to the spots, receives the
highest score among the ?ve dimensions. Score on the Empathy dimension is rated as the
lowest. Both tourists and residents rate poorly the efforts to care for special needs of the
less-abled visitors and children. It is recognized that historical buildings can be a dif?cult
product to adapt for special needs. Narrow steps and people with walking dif?culties or
sitting on a wheel chair may ?nd dif?culties in accessing the upper ?oors. Open spaces and
squares are easier to adapt for special needs. Communication is another issue that needed
special attention. Both tourists and residents rate the itemon the availability of information on
different facilities and attractions belowthe neutral point of 3.0. This ?nding implies that more
on-site information on the attractions has to be provided to enhance the visitor experience.
Moreover, the tourists also rate the item on foreign language lea?ets in the Communication
dimension with a score below 3.0, probably implying that foreign language lea?ets are either
insuf?cient or unavailable for tourists. From these ?ndings, more work has to be done in
improving both Empathy and Communication dimensions to improve the perceived service
quality of visitors on Macao heritage attractions.
The ?ndings also enable the tourismplanners to obtain more detailed information of opinions
of the two groups of visitors. Signi?cant differences in the scores of some of the ?ve aspects
are recorded. Residents have a relatively low satisfaction score for most items except the
availability of staff at the spots. This implies that the residents are generally less satis?ed with
the heritage attractions than the tourists. This is not a good sign because if local people
themselves do not have a strong cultural sense of place and take pride in their historical
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assets, tourists can hardly feel and identify the local culture. Also, people will show more
supports to the government tourism policies and plans if they see the bene?t from the
tourism activity (Harrison, 2002). Even worst is that if their views are often being ignored,
residents will gradually pile up negative feelings towards tourists. Residents’ feelings have to
be addressed appropriately.
In Macao, local residents showparticularly dissatisfaction with the level of crowding, general
cleanliness and upkeep of sites, and variety offered by restaurants and shops. This echoes
with a survey conducted by the Institute For Tourism Studies reporting that Macao has
exceeded the upper limit of its tourism carrying capacity in the areas of restaurants and
boarder gate. Respondents of this survey also disagree with the fact that Macao can be
bene?ted more if the number of tourist keeps on increasing (Institute For Tourism Studies,
2008). This point implies the urgent need of the government to reduce the social impacts of
tourism on the local community. In Macao, tourists are concentrated in the three most
popular heritage attractions, namely the ruins of St Paul’s, the A-Ma Temple and the Leal
Senado Building because they are considered as the landmarks of Macao and are
frequently promoted by the Macao Government Tourist Of?ce. More provision of facilities
such as parking and lighting in those sites is another reason which leads to higher tourist
visitation (Wan and Pinheiro, 2005). Therefore, in order to ease the feeling of
over-crowdedness of particular attractions, the government should put more effort in
marketing and promoting other unpopular or under-utilized heritage attractions in order to
channel visitors to different attractions. Since many heritage attractions in Macao are not
reachable by public transport, it is essential that public transport and networks are available
to help bringing tourists to the unreached attractions. Besides, more provision of facilities
such as parking, toilets, restaurants and souvenir shops in the non-popular sites are also
needed. For the tourists, they are most concerned with staff availability for offering help to
them during the visits. By pinpointing these issues, it can help to satisfy the two niche
markets for the Historic Center of Macao.
In a nutshell, the results echo with Bonn et al.’s (2007) ?ndings that rather than spending
millions on creating impressive exteriors, elaborate ?ooring and promotions to improve
visitors numbers, heritage managers in Macao should ?rst try less expensive improvements
that address minor issues like managing traf?c and site control, providing multiple
languages guides and materials and increasing staff availability and service quality, as well
as improving the existing facilities (i.e. larger aisle space and children playground) to cater
for visitors’ needs.
Limitations and future research
The Historic Center of Macao is made up with urban squares, streetscapes and monuments.
From the data collected using the HISTOQUAL dimensions, dif?culty is found in applying
some of items in the dimensions to the evaluation of service quality in some of the sites.
Especially in the case of squares and streetscapes, staff are unavailable and majority of the
items on Responsiveness cannot be applied there. Referring to the answers derived fromthe
open-ended questions, streetscapes and ambiances have often been mentioned as key
factors contributing to their overall satisfaction and perceptions on the service quality. This is
evidenced by the comments received from the respondents like ‘‘interesting alleys which
connect different heritage properties’’, ‘‘nice decorations (i.e. pictures, paintings,
sculptures) along those streets which mix well between the Portuguese and Chinese
cultures’’, and ‘‘excellent music played in churches and sound effects in temples’’. Such
streetscape, urban furniture and ambience factors are not highlighted in the HISTOQUAL
scale. This may be due to the fact that the items in the HISTOQUAL dimensions are mainly
derived fromthe evaluation of visitor experience in historical houses. Opportunities for future
research therefore are available in modifying the items in the HISTOQUAL scale so that they
may better be used to evaluate visitor satisfaction for different kinds of cultural sites. Further
researches should also be conducted in developing a new and complete set of service
quality dimensions for assessing Macao’s cultural heritages.
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Finally, this study aims mainly to explore the overall satisfaction level on the service quality of
Macao’s WHSite and the differences between the tourists and local residents on the issue. In
order to provide future insights that may help tourismmarketers to design speci?c promotion
and marketing strategies, investigations on whether other demographic pro?les such as
gender, tourist residing regions and length of stay, have different impact on the perceptions
of service quality are necessary.
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Corresponding author
Penny Yim King Wan can be contacted at: [email protected]
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