5.1. Conclusion
To complete this thesis, the author spent a lot of time and effort over the past several months to choose thesis topics as well as the appropriate research methods to obtain the best results. In this thesis, the author has adopted both methods of data collection is the primary data and secondary data collection to ensure sufficient data to analyze and effectively handle questions posed in this thesis about service quality of Halong Bay tour. In the framework of this thesis, all secondary data includes theory and research on customer satisfaction as well as the determinants of this criterion are looking for and collected from credible sources such as books, research of renowned universities to collect primary data, the authors have used forms of doing survey with a survey questionnaire which was designed meticulously. Then, the author uses SPSS version 18.0 software to process all data collected.
After finishing the four chapters of the thesis and gained a lot of results in both theory and practice of customer satisfaction when using Halong Bay tour, in this chapter, the author will brief all the results to assist the reader to have an overview about the chosen topic.
Throughout the course of this thesis, especially in the first three chapters, the author has collected enough information and data to answer the three questions posed in the first chapter. The answers are illustrated as follows
The service quality and its relation to business success
The quality of service plays a very important role and is expressed most clearly through the formation of loyal customers. Once customers are satisfied with a certain service, they will tend to stick with it and do not want to exchange other service providers. Moreover, loyal customer is also an effective word-of- mouth advertising channel thanks to their sharing of wonderful experiences while using the service as well as encouragement to try this type of service. To some extents, businesses have a lot of different advertising channels, including channels for free to grow new users and strengthen brand recognition.
Currently the service quality Halong Bay tour.
Before determining the level of satisfaction of existing customers buying Halong Bay tour travel, it is worthy to consider factors affecting customer satisfaction. From these studies, we can confirm these factors as the most influential to the satisfaction of customers: product quality, feature of product and customer service.
In the framework of this thesis, it can understood that the quality of the product is that the content of the tour includes transportation quality, the quality of accommodation and food quality. Based on the results obtained from the survey, most consumers when being asked about the level of satisfaction with the content of Halong Bay tour expressed neutrality and stated that the content was pretty poor, boring, lack of attraction. When being asked about the quality of the transportation during Halong Bay tour, customers were very excited and highly satisfied. Mentioning the food quality, the majority of visitors expressed satisfaction. In summary, it can be judged that the quality of Halong Bay tour is quite stable. However, the travel Agencies still need to further upgrade this tour to attract more visitors and earn better revenues.
Prices may also be one of the prerequisite factors affecting the level of customer satisfaction when using the service, especially the tour. Prices of products and services are the factors that directly influence the buying decision of the consumers because they tend to want to buy the good item, service at a reasonable price. Considering the Halong Bay tour case, a reasonable level of tour price is assessed through a variety of factors such as the proportions between the quality of the tour and the tour, payment methods, service attitude, etc. After making an investigation, the author has pointed out the current price of the Halong Bay tour does not satisfy customers for the following reasons. First, the price of this tour is much higher than the average level of the domestic tour. Second, the quality of the tour does not match the amount that customers pay. Despite the high price, the attitude of service and quality of accommodation and food of this tour is only equal to other domestic tours and no difference. Meanwhile, with the money, customers expect higher quality. Third, most of customers find the method and process payment when buying tour Halong Bay quite cumbersome, lacking flexibility and convenience. If possible, these customers expect that the travel agencies may provide the user with a smart payment process and more convenient.
Customer service can be understood simply as the interest, learn, listen and handle customer requests in the most satisfactory way. Effectiveness of customer services is determined by the attitude and professionalism of the staff. The high quality of customer service is a factor creating and confirming class of a company against other competitors. Not
only that, good service quality also contributes significantly to building the brand and increase the company's revenue. Digging into Halong Bay tour case, the author used three factors that measure the quality of services including consulting quality, treatment to customers and customer support services. Almost all of customers found themselves unsatisfied with the advisory services during their taken of Halong Bay tour. So is the support service. However, customers seem to happy with the customer treatment offered by travel agencies.
In conclusion, we can say the travel Agencies in Vietnam are facing considerable risks while offering Halong Bay tour because it cannot satisfy the desire of tourists. To overcome this risk, the travel Agencies must really serious research and take measures to improve the quality of its services to satisfy the expectations of travelers. In other words, the more satisfied customers are, the more successful companies are.
The third question raised in the first chapter of this thesis will be dealt with as following.
5.2. Recommendations
In the first chapter of this thesis, the author raised a question about how Vietnamese travel agencies can enhance the customer satisfaction level. After fulfilling the survey as well as gaining much knowledge about customer satisfaction in theory, the author pointed out that Vietnamese travel agencies would easily gain higher level of customer satisfaction when they successfully exceeded the customer‟s expectations and demand. So as to gain it, it is essential for Vietnamese travel agencies to take consideration on these recommendations:
First, upgrade the content for the tour is very important. The Agencies can travel thoughts towards bringing more awareness programs on culture and culinary tours Halong Bay region in order to attract domestic and foreign tourists. Quang Ninh province is not only famous for its beautiful landscapes but also the cradle of seafood and rustic specialties are attractive. In fact, the combination of food culture experience on the tour is the trend of the world tourism. From the perspective of tourists, the local specialties are not merely food but also a reflection of the history and tradition of that locality. Enjoy the local cuisine is a great way to learn and feel the culture of a new country. Therefore, if the travel Agencies in Vietnam knows how to combine culinary discovery program to tour Halong Bay region will surely attract a lot of visitors. In addition, this combination also contributes to increased income for Quang Ninh province for consumption will increase local foods as well as help introduce the culinary culture of Quang Ninh to different regions domestically and
Secondly, the travel Agencies in Vietnam should also consider adjusting the length and Halong Bay tour price so that it becomes more reasonable. Moreover, in order to attract more customers, the Agencies should study more about the special offer discount rates for groups of customers as the lovers, the tour group of 10 guests or more, etc. Not only that, the choice and give discount point is also a method, or to attract tourists that the Agencies should try. From a tourist's point of view, they would treat the discount as a way that the Agencies to thank to our customers. One further note that the Agencies need to quickly upgrade the quality of services and accommodation to move her to help customers feel secure and happy than when booking. The payment is always one of the time-consuming stages of tourists, especially foreign tourists. So the Agencies should particularly focus on upgrading the billing process for travelers so that they feel satisfied with the quality of service than communication channel is email, the Agencies should have a 24 hour hotline to support customers every time something went wrong. This will have a very positive impact on the psychology of the client when using the service.
Third, the quality of customer service, travel agency Vietnam needs to invest more in training and development to enhance the skills and attitude to work their employees for better efficiency meet numerous customers. When detected in the previous section, staff travel agencies Vietnam has a scarcity of skills and knowledge about customers and their demand and expectation. As a result, it is very urgent for Vietnam travel agencies to provide their staffs specially-designed training courses to better handle customer demand. Additionally, due to the lack of suitable training program, almost staffs of travel agencies operating in Vietnam have some troubles with working attitude and professionalism. Hence, it will be very effective if agencies can orientate their staffs with a sound basic of customer care and the process of receiving and dealing with customer‟s requests for the best solution and satisfaction.
5.3. Research Limitation
Regardless the author‟s ceaseless efforts, this thesis has some limitations. Due to the limited knowledge about the customer satisfaction in business context, the author is capable of covering the most basic foundation of this topic. Then, the author also faced up with some pressures on time and budget so that it is impossible to process a large scale survey. It leads to the fact that the findings from primary data analysis may fail to express some people‟s opinions. Last but not the least, as the author used the open-ended questionnaire design, the survey participants sometimes had no ways to fully illustrate their own ideas apart from fulfill the delivered form.