Overall customer satisfaction with the food and beverage, and tourism sectors has hit record highs this year with tourists being more satisfied with the service they received from both sectors, despite having higher expectations.

This is the conclusion drawn by the Singapore Management University's Institute of Service Excellence (ISES) from its third-quarter survey on customer satisfaction released on Tuesday. The satisfaction score for the F&B sector rose to 70.3 out of 100, from 67.7 last year.

The tourism sector -made up of attractions, hotels and travel services - produced a score of 74.5, up from 70.0 last year. The scores are the highest for both sectors since the customer satisfaction index was introduced in 2007.

The study, which involves face-to-face interviews, polled 8,503 residents and departing tourists between August and September. ISES director Caroline Lim said the results are encouraging for businesses in the service industries who are faced with a tight labour market. "This is a timely reminder that the drive for customer satisfaction can be achieved with resources besides increasing manpower," she said.