Does a Bike-sharing System Matter to Destination Satisfactions of Foreign Tourists?

Due to globalization, international tourists are increasing in quantity and frequency. The United Nations World Tourism Organization predicts the number of inbound tourists will rise to 1,600 million in 2020. International tourists'' consumptions boost economic developments of tourist destinations, so their viewpoints should be valued to develop a city''s attractions. Providing high-quality services to elevate tourist satisfaction is related to enhancing tourist loyalties, willingnesses to recommend destinations and decisions of revisiting. So, tourist satisfication plays an important role in planning tourism services. Being a key factor of tourist destinations, transportation systems have significant effects on tourists’ satisfactions. The bike-sharing system (BSS) has been developed as an emerging public transport system in over 800 cities in the world, and it has potentials to be a green transport mode for promoting city tourism. However, how is BSS related to international tourists’ satisfications? This issue has not been well explored yet. To clarify the relationship between BSS and tourist satisfaction, this study identified the tourist satisfaction attributes and BSS performances and proposed hypothetical relationships between them based on a literature review and face-to-face interviews with foreign tourists in Taipei, Taiwan. To adopt measures suiting local conditions, this study used the HOLSAT (Holiday Satisfaction) survey instrument to measure the attributes of tourist satisfactions. Then, a questionnaire survey was conducted on the foreign tourists in Taipei. The participants’ responses were measured using a 7-point Likert scale and a face scale. 400 effective responses were successfully collected as sample data. The sample data were analyzed using ordered logit regressions and reached the following findings. First, the BSS does matter to tourist satisfactions in terms of shopping, restaurant, accommodation, transportation, attractions, residents'' attitudes, environment, and overall satisfaction. Second, the influences of BSS on tourist satisfactions varied significantly according to their genders, ages, educations, incomes, weather experiences and homelands. Third, the bike condition of BSS is the most influential attribute in explaining tourist satisfactions. The empirical results of this research provide new knowledge about the role of public transport in explaining tourist satisfactions and produce fresh policy directions for promoting city tourism.