Gender and Tourist Satisfaction: The Case of Sunbathers in the Azores Islands
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59072/rper.vi61.536Keywords:
visitors’ satisfaction; gender differences; beaches; sample selection; Azores IslandsAbstract
It is well established that satisfaction enhances tourists’ loyalty and, consequently, understanding the determinants of tourists’ satisfaction has received a great attention in the literature. Although gender differences have been widely examined in the marketing and consumer behavior literature, the study of its contribution to tourism satisfaction is still very limited. This paper intends to fill this gap. Additionally, it contributes methodologically to the analysis of the determinants of satisfaction in tourism by addressing the sample selection problem. For this purpose, we examine the existence of gendered differences in visitors’ satisfaction with beaches and other coastal bathing areas in the Azores Islands. The findings indicate that satisfaction is high but that females are more satisfied than males. Such a finding is robust, since it survives across different specifications of the empirical analysis, including a correction for sample selection bias, which is a critical issue that has been systematically neglected in tourist satisfaction studies. The results are relevant for researchers, destination development practitioners and other touristic agents in the Azores.
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