From motivation to opinions and satisfaction: How Russian tourists evaluate Italy

This article analyses the opinions (judgments) of Russian travellers regarding Italy. These opinions are expressed as a score from 1 to 10 (in which 1 indicates “very bad” and 10 indicates “excellent”); they concern both the overall experience of the stay and nine specific aspects. The investigation of these opinions falls within the context of a customer satisfaction analysis in the tourism sector and has the following aims: determine the level of traveller satisfaction, of which opinion is a proxy; identify factors that determine variations in this level; and program potential interventions aimed at increasing satisfaction. Satisfaction influences the future behaviour of travellers and, in particular, their degree of loyalty toward the destinations visited. The data were analysed using different approaches (univariate, bivariate and multivariate) and were compared with data regarding Germans and Americans, who comprise the two most important European and non-European incoming tourist segments, respectively, for Italy. After an analysis of the averages and variability of the scores assigned to Italy by Russian travellers, the paper analyses the dependence of the average overall score on each explanatory variable individually considered. Finally, a multivariate approach was employed, seeing that the opinions regarding the stay simultaneously depend on many explanatory variables, among which the motivation for travelling stands out. Specifically, a stepwise multiple regression analysis was used in a nonconventional manner. In particular, this analysis enabled an assessment of the linkage between motivation and opinion by selecting and controlling for potentially influential variables (antecedent, intermediate and interaction). The effect of motivation on opinions was significant for the Russians and other nationalities examined. However, for the Russian travellers, this effect is indirect, rather than direct, and interacts with two variables instead of one variable. In general, the relationship between motivation and opinion acts in the sense that specific reasons (leisure) result in more positive opinions and, therefore, in higher levels of satisfaction. Consequently, these findings enable the identification of the segments of Russian tourists that deserve particular attention because they are more satisfied and thus more loyal to Italian destinations