Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to assess perceptions of service quality in Botswana’s restaurants. The methodology used was a survey employing modified SERVQUAL instrument to suit the Botswana environment. Perceptions of 166 diners on the quality of service were solicited. The major findings of the study were that Botswana‘s restaurants only meet customers’ expectations in the tangible areas; there were, however, significant differences between the expectations and experiences in the intangible aspects of SERVQUAL. The study was limited to the restaurants and did not extent to other tourism sectors. Since this is one of the few studies to address service quality in the hospitality sector, it can be used for future comparative studies in other sectors of the tourism industry. The deficiencies in the quality of service point to the fact that workers in the tourism and hospitality industry need to be more professionally trained in order to increase the competitiveness of the industry. The paper contributes to the understanding of SERVQUAL from an African perspective. The study also contributes to the growing field of cross-cultural studies which show the globalization of customer interests.

Key words: Botswana, Africa, service quality, restaurants, destination competitiveness, customer behaviour.