The selection of case study participants

Three case studies were selected from the city of Rotorua and its immediate environment. This region is considered as a key and well-established destination, popular with both international and domestic visitors. The Rotorua district is renowned for its tourist attractions including a network of lakes, geothermal activities, Maori cultural attractions and outdoor pursuits. Rotorua has a long historical association with

tourism from the early spa developments that started over a century ago to the contemporary range of attractions (Rotorua District Council, 1 994). Due to its well­ established reputation, profile and developed infrastructure, Rotorua has experienced continuous growth in tourist arrivals over the past decades. The majority of international visitors to Rotorua are from Australia, Japan, USA, and Western Europe particularly Germany and the United Kingdom and the emerging Asian markets.

The case study companies were selected from the Rotorua District attraction list, which represents the maj ority of the popular tourist attractions within the immediate tourist region. These organisations are all small to medium sized and have all been New Zealand Tourism Awards winners. They were chosen to help develop answers to the research question and related conditions as set out in the associated research objectives. The selection of these New Zealand Tourism Awards winners and Qualmark registered companies as the target setting was considered as the most appropriate way to gain the supportive response and information required given the project circumstances. This enabled the researcher to select appropriate group of visitor participants to take part in this research project.

The case study methodology adopted a three-step approach. In the first instance, one-to­ one semi-structured interviews were conducted with the management teams in each establishment to set up obj ectives of the project and to develop and fine tune the research instrument - the SERVQUAL questionnaire. The next step involved the application of the SERVQUAL instrument in order to ascertain any actual and perceived gaps between customer expectations and perceptions of the service offered in each attraction. The final step was the trial application of the results of the SERVQUAL questionnaire to the construction of the House of Quality within QFD. The following section provides a contextual background for each case study (see Figure 3 . 1 and Figure 3.2).

Pilot Case Study 1: Tamaki Tours

Tamaki Maori Village has been a New Zealand Tourism Awards winner and has been a Qualmark certified visitor attraction since July 2002. A survey of management and staff on the "importance of service quality, their perception of visitors' expectations and their knowledge of the availability of quality standards" was conducted in January 1 999. 27

out of 34 full-time staff participated in this survey. A visitor survey was carried out in April 1 999. Due to flaws in the data collection process, the results of survey were not usable for analysis. Therefore, another visitor and staff survey was conducted in February 2002. Results of these SERVQUAL surveys were analysed in 2003 which have established the foundation for the final implementation of SERVQUAL and QFD methodology at Tamaki Tours in 2005. This experiment in the SERVQUAL instrument has suggested the changes in the research process which is presented in Figure 3.2. Detailed process and results of this case study are discussed in Chapter Four.

Pilot Case Study 2: The Paradise Valley Wildlife Park

Paradise Valley Springs is a wildlife park and a nature-based tourist attraction. The Paradise Valley Park is one of the "five-star" attractions which form a marketing network group of five of Rotorua' s top attractions. In 1 996, the company won the "Operator of the Year" award from the Inbound Tour Operators' Council of New Zealand. In October 2002, it became a Qualmark endorsed visitor attraction. The case study began with a research proposal which was submitted to the management of the

Paradise Valley Park in June 2002. The research methodology and questionnaires were

approved by the Massey University Human Ethics Committee (see Appendix D 2). A

detailed description of research ethics is presented in 3.3.6. The same instrument and

process were also employed for other two pilot cases as well as the principal application. Two management and staff surveys were carried out in August and October 2002, respectively. Altogether 1 4 out of 20 full-time staff participated in the surveys. Of the two visitor surveys conducted, 1 1 0 responses were received out of a sample size of 140 visitors. The results of this case study are presented in Chapter Five.

Pilot Case Study 3: The Buried Village

The Buried Village of Te Wairoa is an historic site, which presents excavations, and displays that tell the story of the volcanic devastation of a village in Rotorua in 1 886 by the eruption of the nearby volcano, Mount Tarawera. The attraction won the New Zealand Tourism Award with the theme of Innovation in Culture and Heritage in 200 1 . The Buried Village became a member of the Rotorua Sustainable Tourism Charter and is at the benchmarking level of Green Globe (http://www.greenglobe2 1 .com). It joined

the Qualmark endorsement system in October 2002. A management and staff survey was conducted during the period of September 2002. Altogether eight out of 1 4 full-

time staff participated in the survey. The two visitor surveys, which were administered over the month of September and December 2002, collected 1 26 responses out of a sample size of 200 visitors. The data analysis and results of these surveys and pilot QFD application are presented in Chapter Five as one of the complementary case studies.

Figure 3.2 The Revised Research Process