Impact of perceived service quality on customer satisfaction: A comparative analysis on the marinas in Turkey

Marina establishments are one of the service provider agencies which has an important role in sea tourism. Recent developments in marina sector all around the world and in Turkey result in the increase in the number of marinas and the increase in the capacity of yacht berthing. Thus this situation enables the competition in the international area. A development during the process of rivalry creates needs to improve the service quality level in order to satisfy the customers' pleasure. The main purpose of the study is to determine the variables of service quality perceived by the customers in the marina establishments in Turkey and to show how these variants affect the satisfaction of the customers. In accordance with this objective, mixed research design was chosen. In light of mixed research design, variables to be used in the field research were determined after face-to–face interviews following a thorough literature survey. By using survey forms as data collection tool the variables were analyzed after being collected from 134 marina customers serviced by 8 marinas which provide service in İzmir, Muğla and Aydın. Based upon the results of analyses of the data after the field research, the effects of overall satisfaction levels and perceived service quality variants were suggested. Keywords: Marine tourism, Marina, Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction