The Role of the Human Factor in the Quality Management of Hunting Tourism Services

Abstract

"Hunting" is now a strong tourism motive and the role of "hunting tourism" in shaping the image of a country and destination has become clear. According to the National Hungarian Hunting Chamber, 29 506 foreign hunting guests visited Hungary in the 2021/2022 hunting year, and the sector closed the last hunting year with a balance of HUF 3780 million (+11.48%). According to Robinson & Novelli (2005), hunting tourism can also be considered as a "niche" tourism, a form of tourism in an authentic environment, motivated by a special interest, and therefore only a narrow group of consumers. 

In the case of 'hunting tourism', the customer experience is created through a process of co-creation of a shared experience through interaction, often personalised, between the customer and the service provider. The service provider facilitates the experience by creating the right experiential environment, starting from the provision of game as a limiting factor of production, and then acting as an assistant throughout the service process, so that the quality of the interaction between them has a major impact on both the success of the hunting experience and its experiential nature. This form of effective 'cooperation' between the hunter and the client presupposes and requires a much stronger relationship of trust than is the case in other types of tourism (e.g., certain types of mass tourism).

Based on focus group studies and case studies the aim of this study is to explore, the role of the 'human factor' involved in the delivery of hunting tourism services in shaping customer perceptions and service quality, and to identify the character traits that are fundamental and cardinal to customer satisfaction and return intentions. The results of the studies report that for customers using hunting tourism services, the service provider who is involved in the experience process and who comes into contact with them, as a "human factor", clearly plays a decisive and specific role in the development of the service experience and customer satisfaction. This decisive role manifests itself through the identified character traits, which also have a direct impact on certain attributes of hunting tourism products.