| Résumé: | The National Elephant Conservation Centre (NECC) in Kuala Gandah, Pahang, is
important in conserving and protecting Malaysia’s wildlife. As NECC endures the goal
of conserving and rehabilitating endangered Asian elephants, the significance of
enhancing the quality of services offered to visitors becomes of the highest priority. The
primary aim is to identify the dimensions of service quality using the ECOPERF Model
to enhance the visitor experience and further connect the organization’s mission, the
elephants’ well-being, and community acceptance and understanding. The visitors’
expectation and evaluation of the perceived performance of the service quality
dimension was measured using a comprehensive cross-sectional approach and gathered
data from 450 respondents. The study findings represented visitor profiles of NECC with
the majority being Malaysian, first-time visitors spending between 1 – 2 hours at the
centre and individuals with higher levels of education. This study also revealed that
visitors to NECC rated higher expectations of service quality than the performance of
service quality. Overall, visitor satisfaction with the quality of services offered at the
NECC has unveiled a concerning finding that visitors were dissatisfied with all the
service dimensions. The service quality dimension of Eco-activity, reliability and
responsiveness, Eco-learning, and Eco-friendly practices exhibited significant
weaknesses. These four service quality attributes that visitors perceive as significant
when evaluating their experience at the centre need to be improved to enhance the quality
of NECC. The management needs to focus on strategies to ensure more reliable and
flexible services, with more Eco-activity, Eco-learning, and eco-practices programmes.
As the objective of the NECC is fundamentally dependent on the support and
involvement of its visitors, the results highlighted a significant potential for
improvement. Thus, by effectively addressing the apparent weaknesses in service
quality, there is potential for a positive transformation in visitor experiences, thereby
fostering a more profound relationship between the visitors and the centre’s conservation
efforts.
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