Factors influencing cruise vacations: the impact of online reviews and environmental friendliness

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of the study was to discover the relative importance of influencing factors toward booking a cruise vacation. Based on a review of literature, this study focused on exploring the relative importance of six influential factors in cruise customers’ decision-making process: cruise vacation price, cruise duration, distance from the cruise port, itineraries, environmental friendliness of cruise line and cruise online reviews. Design/methodology/approach The complexity of cruise customers’ decision-making process for involving these six attributes with several levels was examined with choice-based conjoint (CBC) analysis. CBC was selected due to its realistic approach to purchase decisions, in the form of trade-offs. The online survey collected data anonymously. The survey was distributed through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (Mturk) platform. The sample consisted of 450 cruise customers, who had experienced a cruise vacation before. Findings The findings of the study showed that online reviews were the most influential attribute for cruise customers in their cruise decision, followed very closely by the environmental friendliness of the cruise line. The next influential factor was the duration of the cruise vacation, which was followed by distance from the cruise port, cruise itinerary and cruise vacation price. The best and the worst cruise vacation profiles were generated based on the CBC analysis. Practical implications The findings of this study provide some insights with regard to cruise customers’ importance about influencing factors when deciding on a cruise vacation. Originality/value The research provides insides in understanding the influential factors at the last stage of cruise customers’ decision-making process. In this regard, cruise industry can pay more attention in promoting the attributes of a cruise offer as influential factors. Additionally, the findings of this study contribute to the general knowledge about cruise customers’ decision-making process.

Electronic word of mouth in tourism and hospitality consumer behaviour: state of the art

“…Thus, it is likely that consumers apply simple strategies such as cut-offs, and lexicographic strategies based on eWOM ratings in conjunction with other attributes. As discussed before, within the scope of tourism and hospitality studies, there exists ample evidence to support this impact of eWOM on consumers' choices of products (Gavilan et al, 2018;Noone and McGuire, 2016;Noone and Robson, 2016;Duffy, 2015;Casal o et al, 2015;Tsao et al, 2015;Lee and Ro, 2016;Ladhari and Michaud, 2015;Bahja et al, 2019).…”

[Retracted] Optimization Design and Economic Development of Cruise Travel Routes Based on Wireless Communication Networks and Genetic Algorithms

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Cruise Travelers’ Service Perceptions: A Critical Content Analysis

“…Only a few studies have focused on the cruise domain using online reviews [40,41]. Service quality is the most prevalent factor found in the literature [42].…”