Determinants of Tourist Satisfaction in Island Rural Tourism: Evidence from Weizhou Island, Guangxi, China

Island-type rural tourism has emerged as an important component of rural revitalization, cultural-tourism integration, and the development of the marine economy. However, the rapid expansion of tourism can generate challenges related to infrastructure capacity, service quality, market regulation, cultural commodification, and environmental sustainability. This study examines the factors influencing tourist satisfaction on Weizhou Island, Guangxi, China, with particular attention to the transition from resource-oriented tourism toward experience-oriented tourism. Drawing on Expectation-Disconfirmation Theory, Perceived Value Theory, and Tourism Area Life Cycle Theory, the study develops a multidimensional framework for assessing tourist satisfaction. The framework considers consumption trust, infrastructure, service quality, cultural experience, and overall tourist evaluation. Data were collected through questionnaires administered during the 2025 peak tourist season. Of the 180 questionnaires distributed, 160 valid responses were obtained, representing an effective response rate of 88.9%. Questionnaire data were analyzed using reliability and validity tests, Pearson correlation analysis, Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA), and structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings identify positive associations between overall tourist evaluation and several experience-related dimensions in the specified model. Cultural experience has the largest reported positive standardized coefficient for overall tourist evaluation (β = 0.646, p < 0.001), followed by service quality (β = 0.271, p < 0.01) and consumption trust (β = 0.149, p < 0.05). Although infrastructure is strongly correlated with overall evaluation, its direct structural path is not statistically significant (β = ？0.050, p = 0.938), while any indirect supporting role through service delivery or cultural experiences remains untested. IPA results further identify price transparency, transportation convenience, and complaint-resolution efficiency as priority areas requiring immediate improvement. Based on these findings, the study recommends strengthening smart transportation and public-service infrastructure, improving digital market regulation and consumer protection, developing immersive cultural tourism products, and integrating ecological conservation into tourism governance. The study contributes to the literature by showing how cultural experience, service quality, and consumption trust are associated with tourist satisfaction in island-type rural tourism and