@2024 Afarand., IRAN

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ISSN: 2538-4384    Geographical Researches 2020;35(4):317-324

Background
Tourism is a service industry and is usually assessed according to the quality and quantity of service provision that influences tourists' satisfaction.
Previous Studies
The quality of the service provided for tourists is one of the primary indicators that makes them choose their next destination [Holland, 2003; Mitchell, 2006; Molera, 2007]. Then, improvement and development of services, facilities, and infrastructures to respond to tourists' needs are of great importance in rural areas' planning [Sojasi qeidari & Sadeghloo, 2006; Butnaru & Miller, 2012]. It is very important to satisfy visitors by providing hospitality services for them [Caruntu & Ditoiu, 2014]. Khosrobigi et al. (2012) concluded that the quality of the services in their target accommodations is higher than their exception. Manafian & Daneshvar Ameri (2014) studied the shortage of services provided for tourists in Abyaneh. They found out that the shortage of welfare, accommodation and security are the main problems in the studied region. According to Parasuraman et al. (1988) study about the importance of the SERVQUAL model in the assessment of the services' quality concluded that this multi-dimensional model can assess the quality of the services properly.
Aim(s)
This study aimed to analyze tourism services quality in Torqabeh villages (in Binaloud city) to evaluate the quality of tourism services in the villages and analyze the differences among target villages in terms of tourism services quality.
Research type
This is an empirical and descriptive survey.
Research society, place and time
The current research is carried out on the visitors in 11 touristy villages in the central part of Binaloud city from 5th of May to 6th of August, 2019.
Sampling method and number
11 villages were chosen according to the experts' opinions. Using the Cochran formula, the statistical population is made of 263 visitors.
Used devices&materials
The questionnaire was used for data collection and descriptive statistical methods were used for the analysis.
Findings by Text
There were 189 men (71.9%) and 74 women (28.1%) among the studied samples. 84 people (31.9%) were between 25 and 35 years old, 134 people (50.9%) had a bachelor's degree, 189 people (71.9%) were employed, 184 people (70%) were married, and 261 of them (99.2%) were urban residents. The descriptive analysis of the research indicators showed that motivation for travelling with an average of 2.93, how to travel with an average of 2.43, used vehicle for travelling with an average of 1.24, length of staying with an average of 1.77, the proper season for traveling with an average of 2, accommodation for traveling with an average of 2.87, the tourism development potential of the village with an average of 3.49 are the mentioned indicators by the visitors. Among them, used vehicles for travelling and length of staying in the village with an averages of 0.281 and 0.573, respectively, had the highest variance and the majority of the respondents put their emphasis on these indicators and chose them. The evaluation of the quality of tourism services in the studied villages shows the high quality of the services. Except for the indicator of information service, all other indicators' amount of average was higher than the desirable conditions (3) (Table 1). The estimation of the weight of the indicators using the Entropy method shows that the indicator of the interaction of the host community with visitors has the highest and information service has the lowest weight among the indicators. Vikor technique was used to determine the differences among the villages in terms of their tourism services. After normalizing the matrix and weighting, the ideal positive point (the highest amount or positive F) and the ideal negative point (the lowest amount or negative F) were found to estimate suitability (S) and regret (R) (Table 2). The results of the VIKOR model show Jaghargh with Q 0.034 has the highest score because of its various tourist attractions, provision of welfare and services, health infrastructures, and parking lot. While Hesar with Q 459.71 has the lowest score because of its low-quality tourist services (Table 3).Q is calculated using the following equation: Q_i=v[(S_i-S^*)/(S^--S^* )]+(1-v)[(R_i-R^*)/(R^--R^* )]-8.89)*(0.5-1)+(0.604-0.396)/(0.604-9.74)*0.5 21.22=(0.107-0.101)/(0.107 To detect the service provision differences in the studied villages, the respondents' opinion similarity in two aspects of the research i.e. perceptions and exceptions. Coefficients of variations were estimated for each aspect by dividing the standard deviation by the mean that showed the lowest CV in exception aspect is for responding and in perception aspect is for confidence. Then, the visitors except for more response in their rural journeys. The highest CV in exception aspect is for sympathy and in perception aspect is for tangible services showing that visitors feel more sympathy in rural areas which might be due to the rural people's hospitality. In exception aspect, the visitors except for the improvement of the services' quality in terms of the tourism tangible services (Table 4). According to the exceptions and perceptions in the aspects of the SERVQUAL model, the most variation is detected in sympathy and response, respectively. The visitors were almost satisfied by rural tourism services of tangible services, confidence, and assurance (Table 5).
Main comparison to the similar studies
The results of the current research are consistent with the results of Khosrobigi et al. (2012), Manafian & Daneshvar Ameri (2014), Alexandris et al. (2008), and Akroush et al. (2016).
Suggestions
Some suggestions can be proposed to improve rural tourism services' quality: diversify the rural tourism services, turning to the private sector, paying more attention to cultural and indigenous features of service provision for the visitors, improvement of tourism rural furniture such as the garbage cans, bathrooms, benches, signposts, parking lots, and etc.
Limitations
According to the current research, the lack of enough data about the visitors in the studied area is one of the limitations. Moreover, visitors' limited time, made it really difficult for the surveyors to fill in the questionnaires and interview people. There is no list of the services provided for the visitors in the villages which is one of the most problematic limitations.
Conclusions
According to the exceptions and perceptions in SERVQUAL, the most variation is detected in sympathy and response, respectively, showing that visitors except for more welcoming. The variation between exceptions and perceptions of the visitors in terms of sympathy might be due to the large number of visitors that made the rural people indifferent to tourism and pay no attention to welcoming the visitors. The low level of response is mainly due to a lack of local leaders, and proper signposts.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the visitors, experts, and villages councils for answering the questions.
Conflict of interest
None.
Ethical Permissions
None.
Funding Sources
This paper is carried out on personal expense of the authors.

TABLES and CHARTS

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