Service quality, facility quality, and visitor loyalty: Mediating role of satisfaction in urban green tourism in Surabaya, Indonesia

Type of the article: Research ArticleThis study aims to examine how service and facility quality influence visitor loyalty through the mediating role of satisfaction in urban green tourism destinations in Surabaya, Indonesia. A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was employed, combining partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) of survey data from 400 respondents with reflexive thematic analysis of 24 semi-structured interviews, collected across three urban parks in Surabaya between March and April 2026. Quantitative results demonstrate that service quality (β = 0.576, t = 7.646, p < 0.001) and facility quality (β = 0.364, t = 4.849, p < 0.001) significantly predict satisfaction, jointly explaining 82.4% of its variance (R2 = 0.824), while satisfaction exerts the strongest effect on visitor loyalty (β = 0.703, t = 8.896, p < 0.001), accounting for 78.0% of its variance (R2 = 0.780). Satisfaction fully mediates the facility quality–loyalty relationship (indirect β = 0.256, p < 0.001; direct effect non-significant) and partially mediates the service quality–loyalty relationship (indirect β = 0.405, p < 0.001; direct β = 0.166, p = 0.042). These findings converge with three qualitative themes: ecological authenticity as a trust-building mechanism, facility cues as affective satisfaction drivers, and social embeddedness of loyalty intentions. Satisfaction operates as the central, type-contingent mechanism converting both service and facility quality into visitor loyalty, offering destination managers and municipal policymakers evidence for co-optimizing service delivery and ecological facility standards.Acknowledgments We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the Surabaya City Parks and Green Open Space Agency (Dinas Kebersihan dan Ruang Terbuka Hijau Kota Surabaya) for facilitating on-site data collection access across Kebun Bibit Wonorejo, Taman Kenjeran, and Taman Flora Bratang. We also thank the research enumerators and all study participants who generously contributed their time and insights to this investigation. The quantitative dataset generated and analyzed during this study is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, subject to participant confidentiality constraints. Qualitative interview transcripts are not publicly available in order to protect participant anonymity; de-identified thematic summaries are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.