Evidence From North Cyprus Hotels

75 Pages·2014·1.41 MB·Turkish

Measurement of Leisure Traveler’s Satisfaction:
Evidence From North Cyprus Hotels
Kourosh Jahani
Submitted to the
Institute of Graduate Studies and Research
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of
Master of Science
in
Tourism Management
Eastern Mediterranean University
June 2014
Gazimağusa, North Cyprus
Approval of the Institute of Graduate Studies and Research

Prof. Dr. Elvan Yılmaz
Director

I certify that this thesis satisfies the requirements as a thesis for the degree of
Master of Science in Tourism Management.

Prof. Dr. Mehmet Altinay
Chair, Faculty of Tourism Management

We certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate
in scope and quality as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science in Tourism
Management.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Turgay Avci
Supervisor

Examining Committee

1. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Altinay
2. Prof. Dr. Hasan Kiliç
3. Assoc. Prof. Dr.Turgay Avci
ABSTRACT
This research aims to measure tourist satisfaction in five stars hotels in North Cyprus
using American Customer Satisfaction Index. American Customer Satisfaction Index
(ACSI) is comprehensive model that includes six variables, namely, perceived
quality, perceived value, customer expectations, customer satisfaction, customer
loyalty and customer complaints. As previous scholars proposed as future research
direction, international and national tourists are selected in sample of the study. Back-
translation method employed to prepared questionnaires for Turkish tourists. A total
of 200 questionnaires were distributed and collected during two weeks and the
response rate was 86%. Reliability and construct validity checked as preliminarily
analysis. Correlation and regression analyses performed to test hypotheses of the
study. The results of empirical study showed that considering both international and
national tourists’ perspective, customer expectation has significant relationship with
perceived quality. Perceived quality and customer expectation significantly and
positively associated with perceived value and customer satisfaction. Similarly,
perceived value has a significant effect on customer satisfaction. High level of
customer satisfaction reduce customer complaints and increase loyalty of tourists who
accommodated in five star hotels of North Cyprus. Limitations, methodological
concerns, and recommendations for future studies are presented.
Keywords: ACSI, International and national tourists, North Cyprus.

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ÖZ
Araştırmanın ana konusu Kuzey Kıbrıs`ta konaklayan müşterilerin memnuniyetini
Amerikan Müşteri Memnuniyeti Sistemi ile ölçmektir. Amerikan Müşteri
Memnuniyeti yöntemini 6 madde halinde sıralayarak müşteri hakkında, kalite, değer,
müşteri beklentisi, müşteri memnuniyeti, müşterinin bağlılığı ve şikayeti maddeleri
ile sınıflandırabilirz. Önceden yapılan calışmalar ışığında Yerli ve Uluslararasi
Turistler baz alinarak calişma gercekleşmiştir.
Bununla birlikte Kıbrıs’lı Türkler için İngilizce’den Türkçe’ye çevrilen sorularda
bulunmaktadır (Back-Translation Method). Toplamda 200 adet soru sunulmuş ve %86
oranında eksiksiz yanıt verilmiştir. Analiz yapılırken öncelik olarak güvenilirlilik ve
doğruyu birebir yansıtmak esas alınmıştır. Bu analizlerin de birbiriyle harmanlanması
sonucu tezin hazırlanması sağlanmıştır. Çalışmanın sonucunda da görüleceği gibi,
hem yerli hem Yabancı turistler için, müşterilerin ürün hakkında beklentesi,
müşterinin memnuniyeti ve verilen değer ile dogrudan ilişkilidir. Bununla birlikte,
verilen değer de müşterinin memnuniyeti üstünde büyük bir rol oynamaktadir.
Yüksek oranda müşteri memnuniyeti de açıkca görüleceği gibi müşterinin ürün
hakkinda yapacağı şikayet oranını düşürmektedir ve bu anlamda Kuzey Kibris`ta 5
yildizli Hotellerde konaklama talebini yükseltecektir. İleriki çalışmada açıklanacağı
gibi bilimsel olarak öneriler mevcuttur.
Anahtar Kelimeler: ACSI, International and National Tourists, North Cyprus.
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DEDICATION

“It is not the strongest or
The most intelligent who will survive
But those who can best manage change.”

― Charles Darwin

v
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would never have been able to finish my dissertation without the guidance of my
committee members, help from friends, and support from my family.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Turgay Avcı, for his excellent guidance, caring, patience, and providing me with an
excellent atmosphere for doing research, I would also like to thank Prof. Dr.Hasan
Kiliç, Asst. Prof. Dr. Guven M. Ardahan, for guiding my research for the past
semesters and helping me to develop my background.
I would like to thank research assistants Mr. Hossein G. Olya and Mrs. Nazanin
Naderiadib, whom as good friends were always willing to help and give their best
suggestions, my research would not have been possible without their helps. Besides, a
number of friends had always been around to support me morally. I would like to
thank them as well.
I would also like to thank my parents. They were always supporting me and
encouraging me with their best wishes. I owe quit a lot to my family who allowed me
to travel all the way from Iran to Cyprus and supported me all throughout my studies.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. iii
ÖZ ................................................................................................................................. iv
DEDICATION ................................................................................................................v
ACKNOWLEDGMENT ............................................................................................... vi
LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................ ix
LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................x
1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................1
1.1 Significance of the topic .....................................................................................3
1.2 The purpose of the study .....................................................................................4
1.3 Thesis organization .............................................................................................5
2 TOURISM INDUSTRY IN NORTHERN CYPRUS ....................................................6
2.1 North Cyprus ......................................................................................................6
2.2 Geographical characteristics ...............................................................................7
2.3 Economy and tourism .........................................................................................7
2.4 Transport and communication ........................................................................... 10
2.5 North Cyprus regions ........................................................................................ 12
2.6 Tourism industry in North Cyprus..................................................................... 15
3 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW .......................... 17
3.1 Theoretical background .................................................................................... 17
3.2 Literature review .............................................................................................. 25
3.3 Hypotheses ....................................................................................................... 26
4 METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 32
4.1 Quantitative method.......................................................................................... 32
vii
4.2 Study sample and data collection ...................................................................... 32
4.3 Questionnaire design......................................................................................... 33
4.4 Data analysis .................................................................................................... 34
5 FINDINGS ................................................................................................................. 35
5.1 Respondents' profile.......................................................................................... 35
5.2 Results of preliminary tests ............................................................................... 37
5.3 Hypothesis testing............................................................................................. 39
6 CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION ......................................................................... 64
6.1 Remark findings and discussion ........................................................................ 64
6.2. Implication and Limitations ............................................................................. 69
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 72
APPENDICES ............................................................................................................... 78
Appendix A: Questionnaire (English) ..................................................................... 79
Appendix B: Questionnaire (Turkish) ..................................................................... 81

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Number of tourists staying at tourist accommodation establishments..................8
Table 2. Number of arrivals by nationality December 2013 .............................................9
Table 3. Number of arrivals by ports of entry ................................................................. 10
Table 4. Percentage of arrivals by ports of entry ............................................................ 11
Table 5. Chart of arrivals entry point ............................................................................. 11
Table 6. Demographic and travel information of respondents ......................................... 36
Table 7: Factor analysis results for validity test .............................................................. 38
Table 8. Results of Mean, Standard deviation and Correlation Matrix of variables ......... 42
Table 9: Results of regression analysis of customer expectation, and perceived value .... 60
Table 10: Results of impacts of customer expectation on customer satisfaction .............. 61
Table 11: Effect of customer satisfaction on customer complaints and loyalty ............... 62
Table 12: Summary of the hypothesis of the study ......................................................... 63

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. TRNC Geographical map..................................................................................6
Figure 2. The Great Inn (Buyuk Han), Lefkosa .............................................................. 12
Figure 3. Salamis ruins, Famagusta ................................................................................ 14
Figure 4. Golden beach Karpaz peninsula ...................................................................... 15
Figure 7. ACSI Model ................................................................................................... 26

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