Dalle motivazioni alla soddisfazione : come i turisti russi giudicano l'Italia

This article analyzes Russian travellers’ opinions on Italy. These opinions - drawn from the survey carried out by Banca d'Italia on Italian frontier international tourism - are expressed with a score from 1 to 10 (where 1 means "very bad" and 10 "very good"). The scores are given both to the overall stay experience as well as nine specific aspects which qualify the experience itself (hospitality, art, environment, accomodation, food, prices, shopping, information and safety). The study of the mentioned opinions falls within the context of the customer satisfaction analysis in the tourist sector and pursues the following aims: to acquire knowledge concerning the degree of travellers’ satisfaction, of which opinion is a proxy; to identify factors that determine variations in satisfaction; to predispose possible interventions aimed at increasing satisfaction. In fact, tourists’ future behaviours - and, in particular, the degree of loyalty towards the destination visited - depend on the degree of satisfaction. The collected data were analyzed using different approaches (univariate, bivariate and multivariate). Moreover, the analysis involved, by way of comparison, also German and American travellers, that is the two most relevant European and non-European incoming tourist segments for Italy. After examining averages and variability of the scores given to Italy by Russian travellers, the article analyzes the relationship between the overall stay opinion and the single opinions given to the specific elements of the stay. Then, it analyzes the dependence of the average overall score on each single explanatory variable. Finally, since the opinion on the stay depends simultaneously on many explanatory variables - among which the motivation for travelling stands out - a multivariate approach was employed. More precisely, it was used - in a non conventional way - the stepwise multiple regression analysis. In particular, owing to this analysis it was possible to study the relationship between the motivation for travelling and the opinion by selecting and keeping under control the possible types of influent variables (antecedent, intermediate and interacting). The effect of motivation on opinion resulted significant both for Russians and for the other nationalities examined. However, for Russian travellers this effect is indirect rather than direct, and it interacts with two variables instead of just one; moreover, the spurious effect is much more relevant. In any case, the relationship acts in the sense that some motivations (leisure), unlike others (business), give rise to higher levels of satisfaction. In light of what it is possible to identify the segments of Russian tourists that deserve particular attention because more satisfied and more loyal towards Italian destinations.