Chapter 7: Discussion of the TDQ Study's Findings

This chapter discusses the qualitative and quantitative findings presented in Chapters 5 and 6 in relation to the literature reviewed in Chapters 2 and 3 and the wider theoretical context. It explains why tourists strongly associate dimensions identified in the TDQ study with tourism destination quality. Additionally, this chapter explains why some tourists may differ, even if this is only slightly, in what they associate with tourism destination quality depending on their gender, age, income, tourist activity, last destination visited (domestic or international) and travelling with or without children. Chapter 7 also compares dimensions of tourism destination quality established in the TDQ study, with other dimensions of product quality, service quality, place quality and destination service/product quality that were reviewed and critically discussed in Chapters 2 and 3. It also specifies what ‘Tourism Destination Quality’ is from the tourists’ perspective and relative to other conceptualisations of quality found in the literature. Finally, to illustrate, within a real context, dimensions established in the TDQ study, case studies of actual tourism destinations are presented in Section 7.6.