The Maldives has hit the top spot globally in several categories of a new Destination Satisfaction Index (DSI) for the period May to August 2017.
Maldives scored 8.8 on the index, developed by Norstat and dp2research. It contains 20 important factors that are used to generate a detailed assessment of a given travel destination. They mainly include the KPIs of safety, accommodation and, in the summer months, beaches.
The European DSI table for the May to August holiday period was topped by Montenegro (8.5), followed by Austria and Slovakia (each with an overall score of 8.4). Austria excelled in safety, customer service and scenery, whereas the relatively new holiday destination of Montenegro scored highly for atmosphere/flair, weather and beaches.
In the Americas, that accolade went to Panama and the Bahamas with a Destination Satisfaction Index of 8.7.
No other destination worldwide was able to match the Maldives’ safety score (9.4). The highest-scoring European destination was Austria with a score of 8.9.
“It is striking that holidaymakers perceive significantly higher levels of safety in remote destinations, islands and other resorts with a media image publicising their rigid security policy than they do in other, equally popular destinations,” reports Dennis Pyka, CEO of dp2research.
The Maldives also came top globally in the important area of accommodation (9.4) for this period. They led Abu Dhabi (9.2) and the Bahamas (9.0). The top European country in this list was Cyprus (scoring 8.7), followed by Turkey, Portugal and Austria (each scoring 8.6).
The holiday period from May to August is primarily focused on beach holidays. The Maldives led the world in beach satisfaction too (scoring 9.5). In Europe, Cyprus was the top destination (8.6), just ahead of Montenegro and Greece (each scoring 8.5).
Looking at the source markets surveyed and holidaymakers’ levels of satisfaction with the information available and the booking process in cases where tour operators were involved, Mexicans were the most satisfied with their service providers. They were followed in second and third place by the two largest outbound markets in the world, the USA and Germany.
Marc Leimann, director of Norstat Germany, commented: “It seems that established source markets with comprehensive and complex tour operator infrastructure better serve holidaymakers in planning and booking their holidays than is the case in markets where only international platforms may be dominant.”
In addition to comprehensive polling on holiday satisfaction, the DSI also captures holidaymakers’ intent to return and their rate of recommendation of their holiday destination.
The Maldives has a winning reputation, landing the worldwide top spot for the survey period with a score of 77 (out of 100). The top European destination in this analysis received a score of 56 and was also the top European destination for overall satisfaction, i.e. the somewhat unlikely candidate of Montenegro.
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