Tourist satisfaction with hosts: a cultural approach comparing Thai tourists and Australian hosts

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the concept of tourist holiday satisfaction. Various definitions of satisfaction are presented. Reference is made to interpersonal tourist-host interaction. The cultural influences on tourist-host interaction difficulties are discussed. The paper argues that it is a necessity to analyze cultural differences between international tourists and hosts of the visited destination. The cultural differences between Thai tourists and Australian hosts were summarized in six dimensions by a principal components analysis. These were: Courtesy, Idealism, Understanding the Tourist, Display of Feelings, Greetings, and Satisfaction. These dimensions were interpreted and the key cultural differences between Thai tourists and Australian hosts, which could influence the Thai tourist satisfaction, presented. The paper concludes that utilizing cultural differences is an important requirement in the tourism industry to develop appropriate marketing strategies. Keywords: cultural differences, Thai tourists, Australian hosts.