The Influence of Service Quality and Facilities on Tourist Satisfaction at Kawah Putih

Abstract

General Background: Tourism development serves as a major strategic sector for national economic growth across Indonesia. Specific Background: West Java records high tourist destination visits, requiring optimal management at unique attractions like the Kawah Putih volcanic lake in Ciwidey. Knowledge Gap: Prior studies exhibit empirical discrepancies regarding whether physical infrastructure or interpersonal service predominantly dictates visitor contentment in nature-based destinations. Aims: This quantitative research evaluates the effects of service quality and facility provision on tourist satisfaction at Kawah Putih. Results: SmartPLS evaluation reveals that service quality exerts a positive and significant effect, whereas facilities show a positive but insignificant effect, with an R-squared value of 0.887. Novelty: This study establishes that interpersonal service interaction outweighs physical infrastructure development in determining visitor fulfillment within mountainous nature tourism settings. Implications: Destination managers should prioritize service excellence training while maintaining physical amenities to secure sustainable tourism growth. Highlights: Service quality demonstrates a dominant and significant statistical relationship with visitor contentment. Physical amenities display a positive yet statistically insignificant effect on destination fulfillment. Structural evaluation accounts for eighty-eight point seven percent of the total variance in tourist satisfaction levels. Keywords: Service Quality, Facility Provision, Tourist Satisfaction, Kawah Putih, Mountain Tourism