Discounts and free passes don’t keep tourists happy, reveals report

Satisfaction with local attractions fell in Q3.

Contrary to popular belief, showering visitors with discounts and free passes does not automatically translate to higher customer satisfaction for tourists attractions in Singapore.

This was a key finding in the latest Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) by the The Institute of Service Excellence (ISES) at the Singapore Management University.

Satisfaction with the tourism sector was fairly flat on a year-on-year basis. However, satisfaction with the attractions subsector fell by 3.2%, while customer satisfaction with the travel & tour services subsector fell by 1.4%.

The report showed that visitors’ satisfaction levels were not swayed much by discounts or free passes. Whether tourists paid full fees or received some sort of ticketing concession, their satisfaction with the attraction was virtually the same.

Rather, it was the quality of the attraction itself which held the largest sway in driving satisfaction.

“This should not be interpreted as a justification to remove discounts and price related promotions, which are still useful tools to entice and get visitors in the door. Instead, what this finding underscores is the importance of periodically innovating and refreshing the visitor experience so as to spur satisfaction and ultimately promote revisits,” said Marcus Lee, Academic Director of ISES.