A STUDY ON VISITOR’S SATISFACTION TOWARDS SERVICES …...Alain Zoo is a family destination that provides entertainment, adventure, and natural environment experience. Visitors can

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International Journal of Management (IJM) Volume 11, Issue 8, August 2020, pp. 217-229, Article ID: IJM_11_08_021 Available online at http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJM?Volume=11&Issue=8 ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510 DOI 10.34218/IJM.11.8.2020.021 :

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A STUDY ON VISITOR’S SATISFACTION TOWARDS SERVICES AND FACILITIES

PROVIDES BY AL AIN Z OOMajdi Khaleeli*, Adnan Jawabri, Noura AlKhmeiri

Business Administration Department, Al Khawarizmi International College, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

*Correspondence Author

ABSTRACT Alain Zoo is a family destination that provides entertainment, adventure, and

natural environment experience. Visitors can discover, enjoy, and have fun in the zoo’s wildlife which has a collection of 4,000 animals. The aim of this project is to

understand and measure the level of visitors’ satisfaction towards the quality of services and facilities provides by the Alain Zoo. Time series and survey analysis are two methods that have been used in this project. Time series analysis was for 3 years and the survey was done online. According to the finds of both the methods, each year, there is a growth rate in the total number of visitors and online survey shows overall customer are satisfied with services and facilities. Key words: UAE, Al Ain Zoo, Customer Satisfaction, Quality of Service Cite this Article: Majdi Khaleeli, Adnan Jawabri and Noura AlKhmeiri, A Study on

Visitor’s Satisfaction towards Services and Facilities Provides by Al Ain Zoo, International Journal of Management, 11(8), 2020, pp. 217-229. http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJM?Volume=11&Issue=8

1. INTRODUCTION Ecotourism sector in UAE has a rich natural environment which provides a special combination of multiples topography. UAE has the some of the most beautiful natural

attractions and stunning landscapes and it is considered one of favorite destinations in the world. The country focuses on creating and developing low-impact and eco-friendly tourism

across the region, so that visitors can enjoy the natural environment. (Ecotourism and Sustainability)

When it comes to nature and greenery Alain come first. The place is known as most for greenery destinations. Alain is one of the oldest permanently inhabited settlements in the

world. It includes historical Alain Fort, Alain National Museum, Desert oasis, and 4,000 years old tombs in Hili Fort destinations. In this modern time, Alain includes may other attractions

A Study on Visitor’s Satisfaction towards Services and Facilities Provides by Al Ain Zoo


such as Alain Zoo, Alain Oasis, Alain wildlife Park & Resort, Hili Fun City, Wadi Adventure etc. (Alain Zoo)

Yearly millions of people visit Zoos around the world but a very few Zoos think about satisfying the visitors by providing them better services and facilities. The aim of this project is to understand and analysis whether Alain Zoo take corrective actions to satisfy its visitors

in terms of services and facilities. Time series and survey methods will be conducted to analysis the data for the project.

This project is been designed into 6 phases. In Phase 1, introduction of the project, background of the Zoo, problem statement, objectives, significance, and limitations has been discussed. Phase 2 is discussing about the literature review. In Phase 3, Study hypothesis and study Methodology, data analysis and hypothesis testing. Phase 4 is about research findings, contribution of the project, limitations, and recommendations. Phase 5 is about conclusion, and phase 6 is the references.

1.1. Background of the Zoo Alain Zoo was established in 1968 and founded by Sheikh Zayed. This zoo has been

established with the vision of creating natural habitats for animals where they can live freely. The zoo has been the center for endangered species conservation such as Arabian Oryx,

Gazelles and more since the establishment. (History) Alain zoo has collection of over 4,000 animals in it. It is a family destination, so all the

age people can visit and enjoy many other services besides watching the animals. (History) Some of services and facilities provided by the zoo are bird show, animal feeding, Sheikh Zayed Learning Centre, Ahlan entertainer, Safari entertainer, Al Maha Royal, Annual Pass, family Annual Pass, mobile maze etc. The Zoo is not only stuck in providing entertainment for visitors but education all age group about the zoo and its animals.

Ahlan Entertainer: it is services that provide visitors one and half hour guide tour in a luxurious golf cart. The cart will be stopping to five different stops and the visitors can get

free wifi connection in retail shops and restaurants within the Zoo. This Ahlan entertainer includes tour of the zoo, Sheikh Zayed Desert Learning Centre, and world desert and all

services will be provided with VIP experience. Safari Entertainer: This provides services such tour of Alain Zoo, World desert, Safari,

and Sheikh Zayed Desert Learning Centre all in one package. Al Maha Royal: this provides services with a guide and luxury experience to the tour of

Alain Zoo, Sheikh Zayed Desert Learning Centre. Mobile Maze: this maze has been recently introduced and it is the world first and largest

maze. It has been the center of attraction since visitors were very excited to watch and experience the maze. The modules of the maze are change regularly so that every time visitors can experience something different.

1.2. Problem Statement Visitors’ attractions play a very important role in the development of the country. To have

strong country it is necessary to take care the natural environment to attract the visitors. Therefore, the main focus of this project is to understand and analysis visitors satisfaction

towards services and facilities provided by the Alain Zoo. It is important to understand whether the Zoo is able to satisfy the visitors with its provided services and facilities or not. So, is Alain Zoo able to provide visitors satisfaction or not?

Majdi Khaleeli, Adnan Jawabri and Noura AlKhmeiri


1.3. Study Objectives The main focus of this project is to understand and analysis visitors satisfaction towards

services and facilities provides by the Alain Zoo. The finds will be based on the time series analysis and online survey of the Zoo. Through both these, it will be easier to collect the data and analysis it to whether the Zoo is able to satisfy the visitors or not.

1.4. Study Significance This project is based on Alain Zoo. Ecotourism sector play an important role in the country as

it enables to attract visitors from worldwide. The main significance of the project is to analysis if the Zoo able to satisfy the visitors or not.

1.5. Study Limitations Only online survey could have been collected for the project. Only 3 years data could have been collected and compared due to lake of time. This research work is applicable only within UAE.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Satisfaction Visitors’

Visitors’ satisfaction is a key factor in ecotourism sector as it helps in deciding success and failures of an organization. While planning marketable tourism services, satisfaction of the

visitors play an important role. It also always impacts the selection of destination, consumption of service, returning of the visitors etc. it is very important of understand the visitors and their interest, needs, and wants to further improve the services and facilities in order to satisfy them and attract more visitors.

There are several definitions of satisfaction. Satisfaction can be defined as the visitors or customers level of approving a product or service while comparing a product or service’s

perceived performance with her/his expectations. According to Zeithaml and Bitner, satisfaction is the evaluation of product or service after purchase and emotional identification of the purchasing process. (Ramachandran, 2013)

Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory known as EDT which can measure a satisfaction level of customers between perceived performance and customer expectations from a product

or service. This theory includes 4 stages: expectations, perceived performance, disconfirmations, and satisfaction.

Figure 1

First stage of EDT tell about each customer’s knowledge level regarding a product or

service which leads to various judgment of the product performance. Second stage each customer emerges with fixed attributes regarding the performance of the product or service. In third stage, perceived performance of the product or service is been compared with primary expectations. Disconfirmation occurs when there is any inconsistence between the primary expectations and the actual performance which has been lead to satisfaction or dissatisfaction



between the customers. And in the fourth stage, it is measurement of the perceived performance of the product or service by each customer determining if it is up to expectation or not. (Ling, 2016)

2.2. Importance and Role of Zoo Education There is a lot to learn about the zoo and the animals. Educational opportunities were primary evolved to the response of the visitors’ curiosity about the wild animals. It is one of the key objectives of any zoological organizations. There is no limit of learning new things which could be formal or informal. Learning about the environment, animals, design of enclosures, or commercial activities that take place within the zoo which plays key role in impacting the education.

In Alain Zoo, The Sheikh Zayed Desert Learning Center is one of the most attractions. It is an educational center which provides various interactive exhibits, visual materials and

multimedia that shows and teaches about UAE’s past, present and the future. Sheikh Zayed tribute hall, people of desert, Abu- -Dhabi desert over time, and Dhabi’s living world, Abu

looking to the Future are five activities take place within Sheikh Zayed Desert Learning Centre. It has the guide tour both in Arabic and English. The Zoo has recently introduced

various activitites for kids and school children who visit the zoo from school. Sustainable theater was introduced for kids to educate them about environment and teach them how and why to take care of the earth. (Education)

Recreation Recreation traditionally refers to relaxation and regenerative entertainment with experience in

nature. These days, technology in the entertainment industry play key role. Constant improvement and progress of entertainment industry providing variety of attractions make it

difficult for the zoo provide satisfactory and competitive experiences for visitors. People mostly like to be around nature and zoological sectors provide the opportunities for people visit a pleasant environment surrounded by nature and wildlife.

Alain Zoo has very well cope with the technology and able to provide variety of attractions for the visitors. The Zoo constantly works on improving the existing services and facilities or introducing new and unique activities in the Zoo. Mostly the zoo is visit by the people because of its variety of attractions other than watching the wildlife animals.

Conservation Wild conservation and preservation required extensive attempt to contain and counter the loss

of biological and ecological variation as well as save the endangered species from totally vanishing from the earth. It is very important to conserve and preserve the wildlife for future.

In this modern world, people might understand that the conservation of wildlife gives the lifestyles that we lead being species. (Conservation)

3. STUDY HYPOTHESIS According to the above Study Objectives, null (H01) and alternative (Ha1 ) hypotheses are

developed. H01 The total number of visitors of Alain Zoo is yearly decreasing. –

Ha1 – The total number of visitors of Alain Zoo is yearly increasing. H02 – The services and facilities of Alain Zoo is poor. Ha2 – The services and facilities of Alain Zoo is high.



3.1. Study Methodology In this project both Primary and secondary data has been collected. Yearly data and online survey methods are used to analysis the visitors’ satisfaction level. Beside these, data also has

been collected from various sources such as websites, articles, magazine etc. All information and data in this project is entirely empirical.

Yearly data was collected to find how many customers visit the zoo yearly bases through which it can be identified how satisfied were the visitors with the services and facilities. Each year

Online survey was made to measure the visitors are satisfaction with the zoo services and facilities. There were 10 questions asked to the despondence regarding the services and

facilities about the zoo. First two questions were regarding the demographical details and the rest questions were regarding services and facilities abut zoo.

3.2. Data Analysis Here data for the project will analysis into two methods time series and survey.

Time Series Analysis

Figure 2

The above chart shows the total number of yearly visitors for 3 years from 2017 to 2019. Based on above the finds, year 2017 shows 984,202 visitors, in year 2018, there were

1,124,094 visitors and in 2019, there were 1,453,911 visitors in the Zoo. It is very clear from the chart that there is an incremental growth of the visitors in the Zoo.

There are various reasons for the increase in the growth rate of the visitors in the Zoo. From past a few years the Zoo has been focusing on improving the quality of its services and facilities through which it could attract more people towards the zoo from all over the world.

The zoo has modified its existing services and facilities and introduced various new and unique services and facilities for the visitors. It focus more on visitors satisfaction factors and keep on improving according to the visitors interest, needs, and wants. Every year Alain Zoo

come up with various offers and discounts on ticket price and other services on different occasions such as Eid, National day etc.

In 2017, the zoo added something new and unique for the visiotrs which was Hippo and Croc underwater exhibits. In this exhibits visitors were enjoying watching these animals



roaming underwater in an artificial lake which is designed for natural habitats. Also in the same year the zoo bought 5 African Lion Cubs were introduced. During that time it was on of the center of attractions for the visitors. (issuu, 2017)

In 2018, Safari entertainer was introduced which include tour of the zoo, world desert, and Sheikh Zayed Desert Learning Centre. Children discovery garden was the highly attractive area for the visitors in the zoo. Through modern technology helping the children to discover

and connect with tools which help children learning things in a fun way. Giraffe feeding experience in Alain Zoo is a great thing to watch and enjoy for the visitors. Besides that,

Cheetah run, Big Cat Oasis and introduction of western Gorillas and African Wild Dog was other activities visitors from coming from far places to enjoy watching. (issuu, 2018)

In 2019, Safari Entertainer was extended with more activities for the visitors. Alain Safari included an exciting experience and adventure of dining with lions for the visitors. It also

included seeing Scimitar-horned Oryx, Addax Antelope and other animals roaming freely. Nubian Ibex which belongs to goat species, Yellow-Billed Stork and many more animals

were introduced in the zoo. There was also introduction of the world’s largest education and recreational mobile maze. To ensure regularly change the modules so that visitors can have

new experience each time. This year more activities were included for kids and school children to understand and learn better about the wildlife animals in the zoo. Sustainable

Theater was added in the Sheikh Zayed Desert Learning Centre. In this visitors will be taken on a 4 minutes journey to the future in order to learning and understand how to conserve and preserve the environment. The visit of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed and Sheikh Abdulla Bin Zayed made the Zoo more attractive and famous visitors around the world. (issuu, 2019)

So, these are the reason for incremental growth of the Alain Zoo from year 2017 to 2019. Each the Zoo ensures to introduce new things in the zoo which can entertain and attract the visitors towards the Zoo.

3.3. Online Survey and result of the Survey This survey has been conducted to collect data from visitors on customer satisfaction towards the services and facilities provides by Alain Zoo. Accounting to the findings, overall visitors are very satisfied with services and facilities of the Zoo.

Figure 3



According the result of question 1, all age group visit the Zoo but the age group between 13-24 visits the most. This shows that young people like to visit the Zoo more than other age group people.

Figure 4

According to result, 80% of people were female and 20%. This also shows female are most likely to visit the Zoo than male.

Figure 5

According to result for question 3, 50% visitors’ aim of visiting the Zoo is to spend time

with family and friends. Some visit to learn better about the Zoo and others for the entertainment purpose. From here it also can be understood that visitors are satisfied and find Zoo is right place spend time, learn about animals and get entertained.



Figure 6

According to the result of question 4, 70% of the respondents think the ticket price and the price of other services are affordable whereas 30% of the visitors think it is not affordable. But overall, it seems that visitors are satisfied.

Figure 7

According to the result of question 5, there is nobody who has never visited the Zoo. According to 60% of the people, they have visited the Zoo more than 5 times. Some has

visited 2-4 times and some 1-2 times.



Figure 8

According to the result of question 6, 50% of the visitors are satisfied with all the services provided by the Zoo and 30% of people are very satisfied. Some of the visitors are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied and there is 0% of dissatisfied or very dissatisfied people with the services.

Figure 9

According to the result of question 7, visitors are 100% satisfied with all facilities and no visitors feel unsatisfied. This mean the Zoo provided its visitors with good facilities and able to satisfy the visitors.



Figure 10

According to the result of question 8, 100% of the respondents think that animals are taken well care. Animals are the center of the attraction for the visitors, so it very essential to take of the animals which Alain Zoo does very well.

Figure 11

According to the result of question 9, 70% of respondents think and wants more services to be added in the Zoo in order to experience something new and unique. And 30% of

respondents think there are enough of services providing by the Zoo. It always better to add new services and facilities as it will attract many different people towards the Zoo.



Figure 12

According to the result of question 10, here is the rating of overall quality of Alain Zoo. Mostly of the people think quality provides by the Zoo is very good. Overall quality of the Zoo should be improved to satisfy the visitors.

3.4. Hypothesis Testing Based on above understanding and analysis for both null and alternative hypotheses, we can accept the alternative hypothesis for time series / total number of visitors yearly is increasing and we can reject the null hypothesis. From the above analysis of the hypothesis, it was clear that there is an increase in total number of visitors yearly due to the Zoo’s good customer / visitors’ satisfaction.

Based on online survey analysis, we also can accept the alternative hypothesis and reject the Null hypothesis. From the result of the survey, it was observed that mostly respondents are satisfied and happy with all the services and facilities provides by the Zoo.

4. RESEARCH FINDINGS The main focus of this project was to analysis customer / visitors satisfaction towards the services and facilities provide by Alain Zoo. Two methods have been used to collect data which are time series analysis and survey. Time series analysis has been conducted for three years from 2017 to 2019 to measure customer satisfaction towards the Zoo. Each year showed an incremental growth rate of total number of visitors. According to the research, it was found

that each year the Zoo has been improving and introducing new and unique services and facilities for the visitors. The Zoo ensured every year something new and unique to attract visitors and satisfy the existing visitors. These can be reasons for yearly growth of the Zoo and customers / visitors satisfaction.

In case online survey analysis has been also conducted to measure customer satisfaction towards the services and facilities provides by the Zoo. According to the survey result, overall respondents were satisfied with the Zoo and its activities. From the result, it was found that most of the visitors have visited the Zoo more than five times and most of them really enjoy spending their time family and friends in the Zoo. Young people seem to be mostly visiting the zoo as it not only provides entertainment but also teach and give more ideas about the Zoo and the wildlife to the visitors.



4.1. Contribution of the Project The mail focus of the project is to find whether the Alain Zoo satisfy the customer by

providing good services and facilities or not. In order to analysis, both primary as well as secondary method has been collected. Time series has been collected from close observation within the Zoo and online survey has been collected through secondary method. Result of online survey shows, overall respondents are satisfied with the services and facilities.

4.2. Limitations Only online survey could have been collected. Only three years data has been collected and compared due to lack of time.

4.3. Recommendations According to survey result, most of the respondents think that the Zoo should

introduce more services and facilities and also this of the reason for growth in total number of visitors yearly. So, the Zoo should introduce something unique and new for visitors which will not able to attract existing visitors but also people who want to experience new things.

The Zoo should reduce the price of other services they provides which everyone can affordable and enjoy. This method will attract more visitors towards the Zoo.

The Zoo also should focus on the quality of the services provides to the visitors because visitors mostly check the quality first. According to the survey, rate on the overall quality of the Zoo was low.

5. CONCLUSION The main focus of the project is to find customer satisfaction level of Alain Zoo. According to the analysis, both time series as well survey analysis shows that Alain Zoo is able to satisfy its visitors well with its services and facilities. To do the project I have went through various

sources such as Official websites, case studies, magazines etc. above discussion and conclusion of the project are highly correlated to each other.

I have received enough support and help from the company as well from my academic advisor throughout the project. It was a very good experience. If I could able to take survey from visitors within the Zoo would have made my project better. It is because through face to

face interaction with visitors I would have able to receive accurate respondents from the visitors.

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A STUDY ON VISITOR’S SATISFACTION TOWARDS SERVICES …...Alain Zoo is a family destination that provides entertainment, adventure, and natural environment experience. Visitors can