Rail Transportation Attributes: Domestic Rail Tourists’ Satisfaction andReuse Intention

Abstract

Domestic rail tourists play a prominent role in Sri Lankan tourism industry by contributing to the growth of the industry considerably. As a niche tourism segment, the rail tourism can be effectively utilized for the development of the tourism industry. Sincethe concepts of satisfaction and reuse intention is closely combined with the assessment of various services in the tourism industry, the main purpose of this research is to identify the impact of rail transportation attributes on domestic rail tourists’ reuse intention via the mediation effect of domestic rail tourists’ satisfaction. Four rail transportation attributes were identified as independent variables namely scenery, comfort, customer service, andsafety. Data was collected by an online questionnaire from 149 of domestic rail tourists who have visited to Badulla by train during the past year by adopting convenient samplingtechnique which is laid under the non-probability sampling method. Pearson Correlation statistics were calculated in order to identify the relationship between independent, mediating, and dependent variables and the results have proved that there are positive significant relationships between all the variables in the study. The results of multiple regression analysis have proved that the rail transportation attributes do have a positive impact on domestic rail tourists’ reuse intention. The Sobel test showed that the satisfaction mediates the impact of rail transportation attributes on reuse intention. In general, the findings make a significant contribution to the knowledge of tourist behaviour in rail tourism, and in particular the results illustrate how the attributes of rail transportation can increase the re-use intention through satisfaction as the mediator proving the mediating effect of satisfaction in between service attributes and loyalty. In considering the managerial implications, the findings of the research direct the Sri Lanka Railway, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, and Sri Lanka Tourism PromotionalBureau as to how the rail tourism should be promoted through the improvements of the rail transportation attributes which can eventually lead to a satisfied domestic rail tourist.