The impact of understanding tourists’ preferences on optimizing tourism outcome in Lebanese rural destinations

Abstract

The Lebanese economy primarily relies on the service sector, and tourism is one of the most important economic service sectors in Lebanon, for it constitutes 20% of Lebanon’s national income. One particularly interesting aspect of tourism is rural tourism, which could represent a significant economic opportunity for Lebanon, especially after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and amongst the Lebanese economic crisis. This article focuses on nine main factors that are believed to have an influence on the decision-making process of tourists visiting rural destination in Lebanon. These factors include tourist attraction, tourist transportation, accommodation, tourist entertainment, natural environment, hospitality environment, tourist information, marketing and safety and security. The aim of this study is to analyze the perception of Lebanese tourism stakeholders towards the mentioned nine factors that could affect the decisions of tourists, thereby aiding those stakeholders to create appropriate tourism strategies that match the needs of tourists more accurately. The main research question addressed is stated as follows: “What are the factors that have the most impact on the decision-making process of tourists visiting rural tourism destinations in Lebanon?” Tourism stakeholders targeted in this article include tourists visiting Lebanon, tour operators, the Lebanese government and local authorities such as municipalities, local residents of tourism destinations, the private sector, NGOs and others. As for the research methodology, a quantitative research approach based on a self-designed survey was applied. Primary data was collected from several rural Lebanese villages randomly selecting 354 respondents of varied profiles. These respondents were also interviewed face-to-face. Data obtained were analyzed using the SPSS 20.0; The Chi Square test (two-way contingency table) and a correlation analysis were used to analyze data and check the validity of the proposed hypotheses. Results of the study revealed that (i) transportation facilities, (ii) the natural environment, and (iii) the safety and security of a tourism destination were the most impactful factors that affected decisions of tourists. It is recommended that tourism stakeholders carefully study their target market in order to meet the corresponding tourism demands. Nevertheless, stakeholders such as the government should cooperate with other stakeholders and enroll them in tourism planning in order to optimize tourism capacity and achieve sustainable tourism development in the future. A future perspective of the subject could highlight foreign currency exchange rate and COVID-19 vaccination as additional factors that could have a remarkable impact on the decision-making process of tourists considering Lebanese rural tourism destinations.