LAGGARDS. Although there are areas for improvement, Lao PDR does not lag the benchmark by more than 12 percent in any of the private industry criteria. Comfort, hygiene, and restrooms have the biggest gaps to the GMS-benchmark but these all hover around a relatively small 10 percent gap compared to the larger gaps in attractions and public sector management. Presumably, these criteria reflect the level of development in Lao PDR compared to the GMS- benchmark and should improve with development and growth. Only hygiene standards and restrooms received satisfaction scores of less than 7.
Benchmarking Results that Vary by Tourist Characteristic
For nearly all tourist profiles, the benchmarking results are similar to the overall survey results. For example, the benchmark survey results are the same or virtually the same for all criteria whether ranked by men or women. Only a few tourist characteristics reveal differences in benchmark ranking from those detailed and discussed above, and even in these cases only for a few criteria. Where there are differences, they are of interest.
When responses are separated by package versus independent tourists, the independent tourists rank Lao PDR much higher on “rural” characteristics, and only those characteristics, than do the package tourists. The only criteria for which the ranking changes substantially are for the attraction criteria of ethnic diversity, culture, mountains/waterfalls, and rural community tourism. To some extent, all four of these reflect travel to the rural areas. This is a similar result to separating the responses into tourists from Europe, North America, Australia / New Zealand, and Japan versus tourists from the GMS. These differences may reflect differences in travel patterns. Most GMS tourists to Lao PDR, of which Thais dominate, travel on package tours coming with a group of friends or co- workers for a long weekend to Vientiane, Luang Prabang, or both. Most tourists of European or Japanese origin travel independently. Stay for much longer periods, and tend to get out in the country. So the package and GMS tourists’ much lower ranking for rural characteristics in Lao PDR may be attributed to lack of exposure given their preferred travel patterns. When responses are separated by high income (over USD 4,000 per month) and low income (less than USD 1,000 per month), small differences show up under private management, with low-income respondents making Lao PDR the GMS-benchmark for hospitality and politeness of staff rather than second for both in the overall survey. Conversely, high-income respondents move both criteria down to third in the region.
Recommendations
The overall visitor satisfaction level with travel to Lao PDR was high indicating that the majority of the needs and expectations of tourists visiting the GMS countries are being met. Given the differing levels of tourism development in the GMS countries, the size of the GMS countries, and the range of their attractions, the measurement of satisfaction was quite general. A further descriptive analysis of satisfaction may reveal more about the relationship between tourists’ needs and satisfaction and how the notion of “fit” and "attribution" affects satisfaction of‘ needs (Pearce and moscardo. 1984).
The present research has focused on tourist satisfaction with both controllable and uncontrollable items. It is harder to take action when tourists are dissatisfied with largely uncontrollable items such as culture, scenery, sun/sand/ sea, mountains, waterfalls, weather, and hospitality. These could be considered natural or cultural endowments. Although it may be hard to improve these, they could easily be lost or spoiled if not managed well. However. Destination management should attempt to keep their customers satisfied with all attractions, facilities and services — the controllable items — to encourage
word-of-mouth recommendations. Though satisfied people do not all necessarily return, they still can help a
destination attract new customers. A successful tourism destination like Thailand is not only endowed with natural and cultural attractions (the largely uncontrollable items) but has also improved and skillfully managed the controllable items. Lao PDR, newer to tourism development, is working hard to promote its natural and cultural attractions while improving its public and private sector services, for both tourism and the country. 'From the above research findings on tourist satisfaction, the following suggested areas for improvement will help Lao PDR become one of the most popular and sustainable tourist destinations:
- Local public transportation,
- Accessibility of tourist destinations (roads and facilitation of travel),
- Quality of service,
- Tourist facilities such as restaurants, shopping areas, entertainment, and health care facilities,
- Cleanliness of public facilities,
- Quality of food, and
- Tourist information.