Word of mouth and satisfaction in cruise port destinations

Abstract

As acknowledged, in addition to a short-term economic (monetary) value, cruise activities can also provide a destination with an additional (non-monetary) value, ‘showcasing’ the tourist attractions to several visitors, who, after the cruise experience, may potentially recommend the same destination to relatives, friends and colleagues. This paper contributes to the theme of the cruise tourism impact on the local community, assuming a long-term perspective, and investigates the effect of overall destination satisfaction on cruiser's word-of-mouth (WoM) attitude in three Italian ports. The study analyses the relation between port-related satisfaction attributes and overall destination satisfaction. The empirical findings confirm the positive association between overall destination satisfaction and WoM attitude. In particular, the outcomes on port-related satisfaction attributes demonstrate the key role of the availability of well-designed and comfortable shopping areas and the endowment of properly organized and reliable ground transportation services as antecedents of the overall destination satisfaction. The results are consistent with and add to the academic literature. It is recommended that public policy makers (e.g. Port Authorities, Municipalities, etc.) should play a more significant role as stakeholders’ coordinators, to facilitate the dialogue between the various private actors affecting overall destination satisfaction and long-term value creation.

Keywords:

• cruise industry
• port destination
• destination satisfaction
• word of mouth
• value creation
• port-related services

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Royal Caribbean Cruise RCL Ltd Italy for its support during the research.

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially funded by CARIGE Foundation, Genoa [grant number 2013.0282-14].

Notes on contributors

Giovanni Satta

Giovanni Satta is an assistant professor in the Department of Economics and Business Studies at the University of Genoa (Italy). His research and teaching interests include strategic management, internationalization processes and the application of business and strategic management disciplines in the maritime transport sector.

Francesco Parola

Francesco Parola is an assistant professor in the Department of Business and Quantitative Studies at the ‘Parthenope’ University in Naples. He is also a lecturer in the Department of Economics and Business Studies at the University of Genoa and a member of the Italian Centre of Excellence for Integrated Logistics. His research and teaching interests include strategic management and the application of business and strategic management disciplines in the maritime logistics sector.

Lara Penco

Lara Penco is an associate professor in the Department of Economics and Business Studies at the University of Genoa (Italy). She is a member of the Italian Centre of Excellence for Integrated Logistics and member of the Interuniversity Centre for Research for Nautical Tourism (Partners: University of Pisa, Sassari, Genoa). Her research and teaching interests include strategic management and the application of business and strategic management disciplines in maritime tourism.

Luca Persico

Luca Persico is an assistant professor of statistics in the Department of Economics and Business Studies at the University of Genoa (Italy), and a member of the Italian Statistical Society. He is also a member of the Italian Centre of Excellence for Integrated Logistics. His scientific research is focused on multivariate methodologies, sampling techniques and spatial statistics. He has been involved in many academic research programmes and consultancy studies on urban security, health statistics and biostatistics.