The Relationship Between Service Quality and Tourist Satisfaction and Its Moderating Effect on Gastronomy Tourism in Southern Thailand: A PLS-SEM-Based Analysis

Thailand's southern region is home to a number of prominent cultural tourism destinations, particularly those that offer gastronomy tourism.Hence, it is paramount that Southern Thailand develops its gastronomy tourism sector.It is crucial to enhance service quality to create a positive tourist experience and ensure their satisfaction.This study aimed to analyse the association between service quality and tourist satisfaction and its impact on gastronomy experience.Data from 387 valid questionnaires were analysed using a variance-based PLS-SEM method.Findings indicate that service quality and tourists' gastronomy experience have a positive and significant effect on tourist satisfaction.Furthermore, the relationship between tourists' gastronomy experience and service quality negatively moderates tourist satisfaction.This study has made an invaluable contribution to the existing corpus of knowledge on gastronomy tourism and presents implications for practitioners and interested parties as well as recommendations for future research.