Assessing the Tourists Satisfaction towards Yacht Tourism Services in the Red Sea Coast, Egypt

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Tourism studies Department , Faculty of Tourism and Hotels , Minia University

2 Tourism Studies Department, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Minia University

3 Researcher, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Minia University

Abstract

This study aims to Evaluate Tourists' Satisfaction with regards to tourist services provided to them at tourist ports of the red sea. It also assesses the relationship between Yacht Service Quality and Tourist Satisfaction at The Red Sea Coast and highlights the problems faced by yachters at the tested area. This study used a questionnaire as a quantitative method which targeted the tourists who came to Egypt to practice yacht tourism in The Red Sea Coast. Statistical Package Social Science (SPSS, V.22) is used for data input and analysis in the descriptive statistics.
The results showed that there is a significant relationship between the yacht services quality, tourist satisfaction at The Red Sea Coast. The results showed also that the tourists were satisfied with: On board facilities, Pollution control Services, Marina Safety and Security facilities. They were less satisfied with: Entry & Exit Procedures, Resort facilities and Yacht Clubs services. This study presented some recommendations for both Egyptian marinas and the ministry of tourism to increase the satisfaction degree of tourists towards yacht tourism services.

Keywords

Full Text

Introduction

The yachting sector is particularly interesting as it continues to grow, displaying an ongoing positive trend since 2014 with powerboat constituting the  major  segment, 89% of the entire portfolio (Deloitte., 2016).The market is richly benefiting from the increasing trend towards marine tourism and luxury water-based experience. In the last  ten years the global fleet is start to grow in dimension. International market researches (ECSIP Consortium., 2015, Global Industry Analysts Inc., 2016) clearly showed  that the market is moving more towards the large yacht industry: between 2008 and 2016, the 60 m market sector, so called “mega yacht”, has grown by an average of 5%, confirming the theory that the high-end sector appears to be more resilient to any crisis in international markets (Campolongo., 2017).

Yacht tourism is a tourist style characterized by high spending and some call it the tourism of the elite and the rich and so it leads to increase tourism revenues in Egypt. There is a real goal for satisfaction of tourists that the ports administrations seek to achieved As the success achieved by the efforts in the service of the tourist. And then the study contributes to the evaluation of satisfaction degree of tourists towards  these  tourism services provided, which is reflected in the end to increase the frequency of visit, which would increase tourism revenues.

The objectives of this study can be summarized as follows:

1)      Evaluating the satisfaction of tourists with regard to tourist services provided to them at tourist ports.

2)      Assessing the relationship between yacht service quality and tourist satisfaction at The Red Sea Coast.

Hypotheses of the Study:

  • H1: Yacht marinas services have high levels with 95% confidence interval for means.
  • H2: Customers' satisfaction about the yacht trip have high levels with 95% confidence interval for means.
  • H3: There are no statistical significant differences between research regions with regard to customers' satisfaction about the yacht trip.

 

Literature Review

Parasuraman et al. (1985) described service quality as the ability of an organization to meet or exceed customer expectations. In 1981, Oliver referred customer satisfaction to the complete fulfilment of one’s expectations. satisfaction may be determined by tourists' perceived comparison between the preferred expectation about a destination and the perceived evaluative experience in the destination (Yoon, & Uysal, 2005; Kim, & Brown, 2012).

Service Quality Definition:

Service quality defined as "the difference between the perception of the service received and expectations of customer for the service encountered  in which perception and expectation are the two central elements of service quality" (Mosahab et al., 2010).

Tourist Satisfaction:

Allan (2016) defined Customer satisfaction as" the degree to which the needs, demands and expectations of customers are met in service delivery".

Tourists Satisfaction Importance:

Satisfaction is defined as an affective customer condition that results from a global evaluation of all the aspects that make up the consumer relationship (Flavin et al., 2006). Additionally, customer satisfaction is recognized as playing a vital role in predicting a customer’s purchase intention, as stated by many previous studies (Chang, 2012). Moreover, Consumers’ satisfaction is a key factor for establishing long-term relationships with them and acquiring their repurchase intentions (Lee et al., 2008).

Models for measuring customer satisfaction

A variety of theoretical approaches to measuring consumer satisfaction have been proposed; for instance, the expectancy disconfirmation theory, the importance- performance analysis, the equity theory, the value-percept theory, the dissonance theory and the attribution theory. A common characteristic of these measurement approaches is their consideration of satisfaction as a relative concept measured in relation to a standard such as values, inputs, experience, etc. These standards are often inputs imparted  about  by tourists, acknowledging the active involvement of individuals in the co-creation of  their destination experience (Foster, 1999).

Relationship between Service Quality and Tourists Satisfaction:

There is a strong relationship between Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction. According to (Sureshchandar et al, 2002) Service Quality and Customer  Satisfaction were highly related. The relationship between service quality and satisfaction has been reported in  many studies  (Caruana et al., 2000; Chen, et al., 2005).  According  to Lin,  & Hsieh, ( 2006) Satisfaction contemplates the extent to which a consumer emanates positive sentiments to a service encounter. Both service quality and customer satisfaction are extremely related. The five SERVQUAL dimensions which were examined had a significant impact on satisfaction (Abu-El Samen et al , 2013). Service quality and also customer satisfaction are extremely related to each other. The service quality is a fundamental antecedent that connected with satisfaction. The five dimensions of SERVQUAL explored as huge constructive product on overall satisfaction. (Izogo, & Ogba, 2015).

Yachts and The needed Services:

According to Kalemdaroglu et al.(2004) yacht tourism has a  massive development potential as “it satisfies the feelings of freedom, being near to exploration, history and nature, adventure and sports.” This kind of offerings can response to the changes watched in the market. The customer demand is more sophisticated, nature- sensitive, claiming to join in active moods of holiday, and want to experience adventure. And yacht tourism product is the best fit for this needs.

Definition of Yacht:

The term originates from the Dutch word jacht (hunt), and was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to combat pirates and other

 

transgressors. It was no until the rise of the steamboat and other types of powerboat that, sailing yachts became recreational vessels.(Pardali et al.,2018).

Types of Yachts:

There are many different kinds of yachts depending on their use and size, viz. motor yachts, sailing yachts, mega yachts, etc. The length of commercial yachts  or  private yachts ranges from 10 meters to dozens of meters. In general, a yacht is  smaller than 12 meters long, and has a maximum of 36 passengers, while a mega yacht refers to a vessel exceeding 50 meters in length (Chen et al., 2016) ( P ,42).

Marinas:

Marina is a fundamental and best known type of nautical tourism harbour. As opposite to other nautical harbours which offer only boat mooring and storage services, in particularly appointed marina areas, they also offer a whole series of other facilities and services which enhance tourists' enjoyment, extend the tourist season, increase nautical and tourist expenditure and enrich the entire nautical and tourist offer (Šamanović, J., 2002).

Services provided by the touristic ports (marinas) to ships and passengers are

(Pardali et al.,2018):

  • Port services as mooring and anchorage, well traffic sign, berths  protected from the weather, boat launching ramps, warehouses, parking areas, easy access to the hinterland, dry storage areas for repairs and winter storage, safety and security systems
  • Commercial port services, as water supply, bunkering, marine  equipment  and food supply, restaurants, bars, electricity, modern communication systems, waste reception facilities, banking services, hygiene facilities and cleaning complexes (WC and shower, laundries, dry cleaning), commercial shops, health care center, pharmacy
  • Public services: customs, coast guard
  • Repair services: including repair and maintenance units of the boats, technical support of electronic instruments, marine equipment & supplies
  • Tourist-cultural and other services such as information, tourist attractions, entertainment venues, sports facilities, museums, cultural events.

The specialized Marinas in the Red Sea coast

There are five specialized Marinas in the Red Sea coast as follows: (MARSA AlAm for Tourist Development., 2018)

1.      Port Ghalib International Marina

Location: Port Ghalib is located on the Red Sea Governorate, 70 km from the town of Qusair and 60 km from Marsa Alam.

Services: The Marina has electronic navigation benefits, and facilities to receive ship scrapings, freshwater supplying units, electricity, communication, services of providing with fuel and oil, integrated firehouses around the quays every 300 meters, a 6- inch fire line around the quays, a double fireplug every 40 m on docks, also there are fire extinguisher and pump.

2.      El Gouna Marina

Location: The Marina is located within the El Gouna Resort area in kilo 21 north of Hurghada - The Red Sea.

Services: Navigational assistance through indicative signs and there is a scrapings collection and operating, also equipment to combat marine pollution and fire. The marina has a mineral and soda water and fish and poultry farms, as well as a search and rescue center in Hurghada

3.      Hurghada Marina

Location: Marina Hurghada- Alsakkala area- south of the port of Hurghada – is  located on the west coast of the Red Sea near the entrance to the Gulf of Suez, 370 km south of  the city of Suez.

Services: water supply facility- Electricity supply facility- Sewage facility- Sliding for small yachts.

4.      Taba Marina

Location: Marina Taba is located on the Red Sea Governorate, 42 km from Nuweiba – Taba (wadi Shabla).

Services: Waste receiving and treatment unit- Navigational aids- Equipment for fire and pollution control- treatment station- Maintenance area.

5.      Wadi El Dom Marina

Location: located at 80 km south of suez city- Ain Soukhna suez coast.

Services: water, fuel, electricity, communication supply facility, landlines, internet, boat maintenance services, and 24hour security.

6.      Yacht Tourism:

Yachting refers to sailing boats which have a keel designed to provide a right movement via its weight. Yachts have built in accommodation (The scout information centre.,2011 ). Yachting tourism refers to the use of water vessels or boats for leisure purposes, including cruising fishing, racing, or the practice of other nautical activities. Depending on the type of vessels, it could be classified into sailing and  boat  powering and, depending on the property, as chartered or private yachting. (Antonio, 2016).

Research Methodology

To achieve the objectives of the study a quantitative approach was used. The Study targeted the tourists who came to Egypt to practice yacht tourism in the red sea coast. questionnaires were employed at this study to reach out  the target sample during  the period from  January to July 2019.  Questionnaire was  distributed on random sample of tourists who came to Egypt to practice yacht tourism in the red sea coast. Statistical Package Social Science (SPSS, V.22) are used for data input and analysis in using descriptive statistics.

 

The Study Findings

A total of 225 forms of questionnaire were distributed. Only 177 forms  were answered and returned back, 12 of them were excluded because they were not completed and many of tourists were not as yacht tourists. Consequently, about 165 forms were valid,  completed and were included in the analysis. The data showed that the gender percentage of the respondents was 72.7% (120) male and 27.3% (45) female. According to age categories, it can be stated that the most respondents 60.6% were in the  age group  of 41 to 60 years. This indicates that the age group between 41 to 60 years old was too much interested in coming to Egypt for yachting in the red sea coast.

Yacht Marinas Services descriptive

  • According to table (1) The highest three services that the tourists were satisfied about it are: Safe berths comes at the first rank (M=4.61). It includes Staff (M=4.59), followed by Places for Stopping (M=4.57).
  • The lowest three services that the tourists were satisfied about it in yacht marinas are: Assistance with Launching of the boats and lifting them out of water as  the last (M=3.55) , followed by Maintenance Workshop (M=3.65) and High pressure jet wash (M=4.38).
  • ninety five percent (95%) confidence interval for mean of yacht marinas services (M=4.34) is between (4.2) as a lower bound and (4.4) as an upper bound, this meant that yacht marinas services have high levels, and this result supported the first hypothesis of the study.

Table (1): Statistics for yacht marinas services

 

Items

M

SD

Ranking

safe berths

4.61

0.54

1

Staff

4.59

0.53

2

Places for Stopping

4.57

0.50

3

Electronic navigation aids

4.56

0.50

4

The Possibility of refueling

4.55

0.85

5

The Possibility of Providing clean water

4.48

0.63

6

The Possibility of Providing electricity Lines

4.45

0.84

7

High pressure jet wash

4.38

1.70

8

Maintenance Workshop

3.65

0.73

9

Assistance with Launching of the boats and lifting them out of water

3.55

0.51

10

Statistics for all variables

4.34

1.75

 

M = Mean SD = Standard Deviation.

 

Satisfaction of the Trip descriptive

The next table shows the Statistics for tourists satisfaction of their trips. From the table it can be stated that :

  • The highest three items that the tourists were satisfied about it are: evaluate the level of global satisfaction regarding your yachting experience in the red sea

coast as the first(M=2.93), How likely the problems you met during yachting are solved by the responsible? as the second (M=2.88), followed by Did you receive "value for money" with your current yachting experience? (M=2.82).

  • the lowest two items that the tourists were satisfied about it are: Are you thinking of visiting Red Sea for yachting again ? as the last (M=2.55), followed by How likely is it that would recommend that of trip to friends and relatives ? (M=2.82).
  • ninety five percent (95%)confidence interval for mean of satisfaction of the trip (M=2.8) is between (2.7) as a lower bound and (2.8) as an upper pound,  this meant that satisfaction of the trip have high levels, and this result supported the ninth hypothesis of the study .
  • ninety five percent (95%)confidence interval for mean of Item 1 (M=2.93) also achieved the first objective of this study, i.e., Evaluating the satisfaction of tourists with regard to tourist services provided to them at tourist ports.

Table (2): Statistics for satisfaction of the trip.

 

Items

M

SD

Ranking

please, evaluate the level of global satisfaction regarding your yachting experience in the red sea coast ?

 

2.93

 

0.26

1

How likely the problems you met during yachting are solved by the responsible?

2.88

0.33

2

Did you receive "value for money" with your current yachting experience?

2.82

0.43

3

How likely is it that would recommend

that of trip to friends and relatives ?

2.82

0.38

4

Are you thinking of visiting Red for yachting again?

2.55

0.53

5

Statistics for all variables

2.8

0.3

 

M = Mean SD = Standard Deviation

 

Descriptive Statistics for The five Marinas of The Red Sea Coast

Table (3): statistical significant differences between five regions of the research with regard to customers' satisfaction about the yacht trip

Variable

Region

No. of customers

Mean Rank

Chi-Squa Re

Sig.

Customers' Satisfaction

Taba marina

16

98.38

10.084

0.039

Om el Dom marina

12

77.17

 

 

Port Ghalib marina

69

71.43

 

 

El Gouna marina

36

92.28

 

 

Hurghada marina

32

92.00

 

 

From the previous table it obvious that sig. value is (0.039) that means that there are significant differences between five regions of the research with regard to customers' satisfaction about the yacht trip. The results of Mann-Whitney tests indicated that there  are statistical significant differences between just region of Marina Ghalib and all remaining regions, these differences are in favor of all remaining regions. This result coincided that the tenth hypothesis of the study is invalid. That means that customers' satisfaction about the yacht trip at Marina Ghalib region have low level.

Discussions and Conclusion:

The main purpose of this study is to assess the degree of satisfaction of yacht tourists in Egypt. This study aims to increase the frequency of visit,  which  would  increase tourism revenues. Moreover, it’s significance lies in the results that will be reached, which will contribute to the elimination of the problems and obstacles facing yacht tourism as well as increase the international tourist demand on them, which will increase tourism income.

The findings showed that Yacht Tourism Services quality and Satisfaction in the tourism industry are a novel and anew area of research in Egypt there are no searches in this area before.

The results showed that the highest three dimensions that the tourists were satisfied about it are: On board facilities, Pollution control Services, Marina Safety and Security facilities.

The findings showed that the lowest three dimensions that the tourists were satisfied about it are: Entry & Exit Procedures, Resort facilities  and  Yacht  Clubs services.

Furthermore, The findings showed that the arrangement of The Red Sea marinas in terms of visit according to the results of the study are ; Port Ghalib marina as the first

, followed by El Gouna marina, Hurghada marina, Taba marina and El  Dom marina as  the last.

It also showed that there is a significant relationship and a positive impact  between the quality of the service, satisfaction and loyalty of tourists towards the yacht tourism services in the Red Sea coast.

Indeed, there is no difference in the degree of satisfaction according to nationalities.

Recommendations:

This study presents many recommendations for both The Egyptian Marinas and Ministry of Tourism. These recommendations can be presented as follow:

  • The  Egyptian  Marinas   should  interested   in   developing  the means of communications.
  • The Egyptian Marinas must have a lot of shops for shopping.
  • The Egyptian Marinas must have a clean toilets and showers.
  • The Egyptian Marinas should interested in providing places to repair yachts.
  • The Egyptian Marinas should interested in providing ground services and electrical current.
  • The Egyptian Marinas need to develop new and creative ideas and services to offer them to their customers.
  • The Ministry of tourism need to develop a computerized system links the ports which operate with the 2003 decision system.
  • The Ministry of Tourism should increase the number of specialized marinas in the Red Sea.
  • The Ministry of Tourism should develop a reliable tourist statistics system generally and a special department for yacht tourism statistics in particular.

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Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research MJTHR
Volume 9, Issue 1
June 2020
Pages 157-170

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