Assessing servicescape of cruise tourism: the perception of Chinese tourists

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to develop a comprehensive framework for assessing servicescape of cruise tourism and provides practical suggestions to improve the perception of Chinese tourists toward cruise servicescape. Design/methodology/approach A multistage mixed-method design was used in the sequence of in-depth interviews (n = 18), expert panel (n = 5), on-site survey (n = 317) and online survey (n = 300). Grounded theory, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to assess cruise tourism servicescape. Findings The cruise tourism servicescape construct was identified with six dimensions: facilities and décor, natural scenery, onshore excursions, onboard entertainment, social interactions and dining services. These dimensions were in the order of importance, as perceived by Chinese tourists. Practical implications Cruise lines operating large ships can be more attractive to Chinese consumers than luxury cruise lines operating smaller vessels. Cruise operators can enhance perceived servicescape by integrating natural and built environments, such as air, sea and on-shore tours. Services provided by foreign crew members may serve as a strong selling point for Chinese tourists. Consumer-to-consumer activities may be introduced into the Chinese market. Cruise operators may also provide quality meal service in terms of variety, quality and flexibility. Originality/value Considering that minimal research has been conducted on cruise servicescape scale development, this study serves as the first empirical research effort in this regard. The findings also identify the specific needs of Chinese tourists, which is a fast-growing market in the cruise industry.

Conceptualising And Measuring Public Hospital Servicescape

“…Two levels of data We applied EFA using maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) with oblimin rotation. Since it had become elusive to which servicescape factors remained relevant in the context of public hospitals, we concurred with the idea of exploring the possible antecedents, which was apparent in the studies of Lyu, Hu, Hung and Mao (2017). MLE is our choice of factor extraction because of two reasons; 1) MLE can provide consistent results across models; 2) MLE has remained the preferred estimator across settings (Byrne, 2010).…”

Re-Investigating the Roles of Green Service-scape to Improve Tourism Performance Marketing Service Dominant Logic Perspective: A Literature Review

“…(Nilsson & Ballantyne, 2014),, (Ardley & Chen, 2017). There is one that uses a mixed quantitative and qualitative method (Lyu et al, 2017).…”

“…Layout relates to the positioning of furniture and various equipment in the area used by the customer, taking into account how the area is in, the concept of decoration, how the color and wall arrangement and the quality of the material; spatial layout and functionality (Nathaniel D. . Service-scape as a physical display is indeed very important in environmental governance and elements related to infrastructure, objects; but besides that there are other things that are no less important, namely atmosphere, hospitality, communication, culture, value, provisions, natural law (Park et al, 2019),atmosphere such as customer satisfaction, experience, consumption; Social factors, such as the behavior of others in the environmental service-scape can also influence customer satisfaction, attitudes and other behaviors (Dassanayake & Senevirathne, 2018), (Lyu et al, 2017). The full list of research themes, contexts, methodologies, theories used and research locations is described as shown in Appendix 1.…”

“…Organizing aesthetic design, layout, providing other offerings customer needs, creating specialization services, building communication with patients / families, focusing on health services, building health partners, organizing, events, attractions, building information systems, providing ease of access, communication skills, providing transportation, building a network of travel agencies, providing comfort, maintaining hospitality, quick response, being a rule model of hygiene management, waste processing and providing Health services (e.g. (Park et al, 2019), , (Lyu et al, 2017), (Bujisic et al, 2017).…”

Cruise experience and its contribution to subjective well‐being: A case of Chinese tourists

“…Furthermore, despite the plethora of recent studies on cruise tourism (Andriotis & Agiomirgianakis, ; Han, Lee, & Hwang, ; Juan & Chen, ), empirical evidence on the relation between SWB and cruise travel remains scant and weak, not to mention the absence of such literature focusing on Chinese tourists. Considering the substantial cultural and social‐economic differences between China and Western societies and China's huge potential for the cruise market (Lu, Hu, Hung, & Mao, in press), research on Chinese cruise tourism appears to be highly promising. Therefore, the main focus of this research is to explore the psychological mechanism through which cruise experience affects SWB over time.…”