A research team led by Dr. Teng Weichen of the College of Business of Chinese Culture University successfully proposed plausible suggestions and strategies to promote museums in the travel industry, and the research results have been recognized by the world leading journal, Tourism Management. Tourism Management is one of the top five journals that focuses on planning and policy aspects of tourism and business management. The study of Dr. Teng and his associate extracted negative reviews online to pinpoint the failures in providing services to customers and turned them to the boosters for excellence.

The study examined the online reviews of the best museums in the world on Tripadvisor, the largest travel guidance platform. The museums chosen include those in France, the U.K., the U.S., Netherland, New Zealand, Brazil and China. From the negative reviews on fifteen museums which got the lowest grades, the research team was able to identify twelve essential service qualities- assurance, reliability, responsiveness, tangibles, empathy, communication, consumables, convenience, servicescape. The study also found the necessary qualities for museum operation, which are contemplation, purposiveness, and first-hand experience. Based on the findings, the researcher identified possible museum service failures and proposed suggestions.

The sample of the study included benchmark museums around the globe; thus, the research results could apply to museums worldwide. Content analysis of tourists’ blogs and forum communications developed by the study to capture tourists’ perceptions of travel service quality has been employed by scholars in related fields. Moreover, the suggestions made in the study are practical and valuable.

Chinese Culture University is one of the top five universities in Taiwan in terms of the number of departments and students. It is the first university in Taiwan to establish a department of tourism.  The school is also proud of having the largest college of arts among all the private universities in Taiwan. The university takes an interdisciplinary approach and provides teaching that combines theories and practices.

The full text of the research is available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517718301316