Service quality of travel agents: the case of travel agents in China

Travel agents in China have faced difficult times in recent years because of increasing customer demands and internal competition in the industry. A China Consumer Council report (2003) stated that complaints against travel agencies had increased by 10.6% for the year 2002/2003 as compared with the previous year. The purpose of the study was to assess customers´ expectations and perceptions of service provided by travel agents, and to explore how the service factors derived from the factor analysis were related to overall customer satisfaction. The results showed that customers´ perceptions of service quality fell short of their expectations, with the reliability dimension having the largest gap. Five factors were derived from the factor analysis of 25 service attributes, and the result of factor analysis showed that overall customer satisfaction was related to these five factors.