Assessment and Analysis of the Quality of Tourism Services in Rural Areas from the Perspective of Tourists; the Case Study of Torqabeh Villages in Binaloud City

The tourism industry is one of the most sensitive industries in terms of quality of service to the tourists. Therefore, identifying the real level of quality of received services by tourists will be the first step to increase their satisfaction. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to analyze the quality of tourism services in rural areas of Torqabeh in Binaloud city from the perspective of tourists.

This descriptive-analytical study was conducted among 263 tourists in rural areas of Torqabeh in Binaloud city in 2019. Data were collected using library resources and in the field using a questionnaire to assess the quality of tourism services and were analyzed by one-sample t-test, Vikor and entropy models and SERVQUAL model.

Jaghargh village with the Q-score of 0.034 had the highest rank due to the presence of more attractions, the availability of amenities and services, sanitary infrastructures, car park, and so on. Hesar village with the Q-score of 459.71 had the lowest rank among the villages of the study area due to the lack of communication and road infrastructures and the high distance to the center of the city. Also the results of SERVQUAL model showed that there is a moderate gap between the administration and expectations of tourists in terms of the quality of rural tourism services.

The tourist destination villages have a difference spatially in the service quality and also in terms of the service quality gap, the largest gap is observed in terms of the empathy and accountability dimensions.