The Effect of the Quality of Host Community Behavior on the Satisfaction and Loyalty of Urban Tourists Case Study: Baam Sabz Recreation Complex of Lahijan City

Introduction  
The study of host community behavior, as a framework for the satisfaction of urban tourists. Local community can use its capabilities to provide a double degree of effectiveness on achieving tourist satisfaction. In order to provide satisfaction and loyalty in the mind of the customer, the behavior of the host community is efficient, so these days, this category is an inevitable necessity in order to create superior quality for customers and make a competitive advantage for tourist loyalty. Inadequate behavior with the expectations of tourists causes the failure of tourism institutions to achieve the main goals. The organizational behavior of the host community is one of the most important factors that can be effective on providing the best quality of services to tourists. Lahijan city is considered as one of the tourism attractions in Gilan province, which attracts tourists from inside or even abroad in all seasons according to the existing potentials. The city has many capabilities to develop urban tourism. In addition to these capabilities, there are also challenges in the field of tourism in this city.

Methodology 

The study is a descriptive-analytical one and also it is an applied research in terms of purpose. The special subject is tourism in Baam Sabz recreation complex of Lahijan city in Gilan province and the realm of time is August and September 2017; which is the peak of tourist density in this city. Accordingly, the statistical population is tourists who have entered the city of Lahijan in the mentioned seasons. Since the size of the statistical population is unknown, Cochran's formula has been used to determine the sample size. Cronbach’s alpha for all research structures is more than 0.7. After confirming the validity and content of the questionnaire by experts (ten university professors in the field of tourism), the final test of the questionnaire with Cronbach's alpha coefficient for research structures was approved 0.81, and so the final questionnaire was widely distributed among tourists.In order to measure the significance relationships between the variables, non-parametric test (correlation coefficient and regression analysis) was used and finally, using the structural equation model and LISREL software, a set of equations were tested simultaneously.
Results and discussion

There is a direct and significant relationship between the components of the quality of the host community behavior and the level of satisfaction of tourists' loyalty. The host and 31% of the agent will be outside the model. On the other hand, responding to the needs of tourists by the host community is one of the most essential tasks of any host community in tourism destination. The role of the quality of the host community behavior when providing services to tourists, how to provide host community services and the type of behavior for employees are factors that have a direct impact on tourist loyalty. Tourists satisfaction is achieved when the process of designing the quality of host behavior is such that it meets the expectations of tourists. In terms of the priority of the coefficients of influence on the loyalty of the variable of committed behavior in the current conditions with a coefficient of 0.745 has the greatest effect on the satisfaction and loyalty of tourists and the variables of benevolent behavior (coefficient of impact 0.652) and virtuous behavior with a score of 0.593 are in the next ranks.

Tourist satisfaction depends on the quality of the host community behavior and with enhancing the quality of behavior, the satisfaction of tourists also increases. This kind of attitude of the host community towards tourists will lead to the desire of tourists to return and ultimately their loyalty and positive publicity in revisits. The coefficient of effectiveness of the component of the host society's committed behavior on customer loyalty is higher than the other coefficients drawn in the structural equation model. Satisfaction and loyalty of tourists are possible by improving the quality of the host community behavior with the mediating role of committed behavior of the host community. Paying attention to the host community behavior is a strategic approach to attract more tourists to the Baam Sabz Recreation Complex. Thus, tourists can achieve their needs and services, and the Baam Ssbz Recreation Complex achieves its goals by retaining tourists. Among the indicators related to the variable of committed behavior of the host community are the index of the host community's attachment to the tourism profession and active cooperation and participation in attracting tourists and the index of general information of the host community about the arts and industries of the tourism destination, respectively.