Importance and expectations of destination attributes for Japanese tourists to Hawaii and the gold coast compared

Competition in tourism destination marketing has highlighted the need for comparative studies of destination attributes. The Japanese are a major source of tourists, and Hawaii and the Gold Coast significant but somewhat similar destination choices for the Japanese. A survey of 1270 tourists arriving and departing Hawaii and the Gold Coast is used to measure the importance of, expectations of, and satisfaction with, a range of 27 destination attributes. A principal components dimensional analysis is destination images. The question of whether satisfaction should be compared with attribute importance or expectation is determined by a structural equation analysis, and it is concluded that expectations on arrival result from the importance of attributes. A comparison of the expectations and satisfaction of the Japanese tourists, provides a more comprehensive view of the attributes at the two destinations. The study discusses the implications of this finding for the two destinations.