Managing disappointments in tourism: A new aspect in tourism destination management

Abstract

More travelling experiences the tourists have more their expectations are increasing. High requirements of tourists should be met not only by the tourism related service sector but also by the tourism destination itself. Tourists perfectly know what to expect in a fourstar hotel and what a so called Cultural Capital of Europe should offer. The default of the required services or the baffled of the experience might generate disappointment. In tourism, extremely strong competition among cities claims a careful and prompt reaction by the service sector as well as by the management committee of a destination to avoid tourists’ disappointment and to remedy its undesired consequences in time. This study makes an important theoretical contribution to understand disappointment related to tourism destinations and to delineate some management issues.