Tourist expectations and satisfaction in mountain gorilla tourism in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda

ABSTRACT Sustainable tourism plays a pivotal role in the conservation of endangered mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei); however, few studies have investigated tourist expectations and satisfaction from a tourism management perspective. We conducted a questionnaire survey (N = 303) from December 2019 to January 2020 in Bwindi, Uganda, and measured tourists’ expectations and satisfaction of 21 specific aspects on 5-point Likert scale. We also collected socio-demographic data and measured the overall satisfaction, recommendations to their friends and/or relatives, and the willingness to revisit on 10-point Likert scale. Tourists had high expectations, especially regarding observation experience, conservation, and education, while they had high satisfaction levels for most items, but with large variances in several aspects such as the costs and easiness of tracking. Mean satisfaction levels outweighed mean expectations in most items except for the sense of crowdedness and observation manner. The overall satisfaction and recommendation levels were very high but the willingness to revisit varied among tourists (negatively correlated with age), suggesting gorilla tourism is once in a lifetime experience for many tourists. The results indicated that mountain gorilla tourism performed well, but also highlighted implications for maintaining a sustainable tourism-conservation balance.