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Quality aspects and assessment… 135
The authors admit that results obtained can vary if some destinations were
surveyed at peek periods of a holiday season when service quality may objectively
decrease.
Results obtained at the first stage of the survey were analysed with a help of
statistical data processing methods. Due to the fact that the survey is still ongoing,
further data processing will contain establishing of correlation between various
assessments, calculating weighted averages and assessing compliance of data to
regular breakdown curves.
2. Results
2.1. Assessment of service quality prior to its receiving
Only experts were involved at this stage of the survey process. It was commenced
by evaluating information on an enterprise which could be obtained in the
internet sources. 19% of all enterprises surveyed did not have their own homepages.
Information on them could be found at regional or city homepages (37% of all
cases), internet reference portals (29%) and specialized portals (24%). Homepages
of 23 tourism enterprises were rated as visually appealing. Two thirds of homepages
analysed contained information in three or more languages, while 5 homepages
contained information only in the Latvian language. 7 enterprises (17% of all surveyed)
offered direct booking opportunities. Almost all pages contained photo galleries,
but only half of them had uploaded information (or references to other
sources of information) on the surrounding and sites of interest. Despite the latest
tendencies of consumer behaviour testifying an increased trust in opinions of other
tourists 5 , only 9 guest houses offered a possibility of posting and viewing client
comments on their web pages.
Swiftness and quality of service were assessed by sending an e-mail asking for
information on availability of vacant rooms, prices, additional services and booking
opportunities. 83% of enterprises replied to these requests. 10% replied within 20
minutes, 37%: at the second half of the day while 53%: within 24 hours. Majority
of enterprises were capable of providing the information requested, while contents
of 10% of replies was assessed as insufficient. Skills and competences of employees
were also tested with a help of phone calls requesting similar information on the
phone. In 70% of cases guest houses could be reached at the first attempt and replies
followed already after the first or the second tone. Almost all employees expressed
interest in providing not only the information requested (72%), but also by
5
Handbook on E-marketing for Tourism Destinations, World Tourism Organization and
European Travel Commission, 2008, pp. 4–5.