Service Recovery Pathways to Tourist Trust in Indonesian Coastal Destinanion Systems

Waode Maratun Shaleha, Sudirman Zaid, Endro Sukotjo, Yusuf Yusuf

Abstract


Coastal destination systems involve multiple actors and interconnected service processes, making tourist trust dependent on how destinations respond to service disruptions rather than on service performance alone. This study examines the pathways through which service failure, customer complaint behavior, service recovery, and tourist satisfaction shape tourist trust within integrated coastal destination systems in Indonesia. A quantitative survey was conducted with 280 tourists visiting Kendari Bay and Toronipa Beach, and the data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (SEM-PLS). The results reveal that service failure does not directly influence tourist complaint behavior, satisfaction, or trust, but significantly stimulates service recovery. Customer complaint behavior strengthens service recovery, which subsequently enhances tourist satisfaction and trust, while tourist satisfaction emerges as the strongest predictor of trust. The findings further demonstrate that service recovery constitutes the principal pathway linking service failure to tourist trust through sequential mediation involving complaint behavior and satisfaction. These results suggest that tourist trust is shaped less by service failures themselves than by the capacity of coastal destination systems to coordinate recovery actions and restore visitor experiences. This study contributes to tourism geography by conceptualizing coastal destinations as integrated spatial service systems in which service recovery functions as a key spatial governance mechanism for sustaining tourist trust.

Keywords: destination governance, visitor satisfaction, complaint handling, experience quality, structural equation modelling, coastal recreation

© 2026 Serbian Geographical Society, Belgrade, Serbia.

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Serbia.


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