Restaurant Quality: A Cross-National Comparison between two Neighbouring North Mediterranean Tourist Destinations – Portorož and Opatija: Domestic Customers’ Perspective

The purpose of this paper is to investigate similarities and differences in the perceived quality on the part of domestic customers’ in restaurants in Opatija (Croatia) and Portorož (Slovenia). Opatija and Portorož have a long common history, as they were important Austro-Hungarian and former Yugoslav North Mediterranean tourist destinations. These neighbouring and competitive tourist destinations now belong to two different European states: Slovenia and Croatia. In accordance with a previously conducted research in Opatija, research based on the same methodology was repeated in Piran. The Slovene and Croat sampling frames consisted of 156 valid questionnaires in each destination. Domestic customers that had eaten in restaurants were used as respondents. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine quality attributes that best explain customers’ quality expectations and perceptions in both destinations. The study identified six attributes that best explain customers’ expectations regarding service quality. Surprisingly, the research findings show similar (almost identical) crucial attributes in both destinations, as well as a negative quality gap, which results in poor and insufficient restaurant service quality. Restaurant managers should, therefore, emphasize the importance of identifying customers’ expectations that significantly determine their business success and constantly measure their quality performance. This study is of great interest to managers, as its results may be implemented in restaurant and destination quality strategies. It would be of interest to see if similarities exist among other destinations that are decidedly different from those in Slovenia and Croatia.