Destination Social Responsibility in a Biosphere Reserve: An Importance–Performance Analysis

Destination social responsibility (DSR) has received growing attention in tourism research, yet limited knowledge exists about how tourists prioritize specific destination responsibilities and where perceived performance falls short of the importance they assign to them. This study evaluates DSR in a biosphere reserve by integrating performance–importance gap analysis with importance–performance analysis (IPA). Data were collected from 221 tourists visiting the Mui Ca Mau Biosphere Reserve, Vietnam, who evaluated the importance and performance of 15 attributes representing economic, environmental, legal, and ethical responsibilities. Paired-samples t-tests showed that perceived performance was significantly lower than importance for all 15 attributes. Environmental responsibility had the largest average performance–importance gap, with its four attributes exhibiting the largest attribute-level gaps. IPA identified four attributes in the “Concentrate Here” quadrant, three related to environmental responsibility and one to legal responsibility concerning product and service quality. Attributes within the same DSR dimension occupied different IPA quadrants, while larger performance–importance gaps did not necessarily correspond to higher IPA priorities. These findings contribute to DSR research by showing that responsibilities within the same dimension may differ in priority and that larger performance–importance gaps do not necessarily indicate higher IPA priorities, highlighting the value of combining gap analysis with attribute-level IPA across destination contexts.