The comparative competition analysis of Mediterranean cruise tourism destinations and the position of Turkey

Cruise tourism is an activity that provides added value for the destinastions internationally. Therefore, in cruise tourism market destinations enter a competitive race to obtain a large share of the added value. In order to gain a competitive advantage, the cruise market must be divided into different segments according to specific characteristics and in this segment, destinations must give a market direction in terms of tourist needs and wants. One of the way to give direction to the cruise market, destinations should determine their position and obtain market superiority in comparison to competitors. In this research, for obtaining competitive edge in comparison to competitors, in cruise terminal and destinations, five Mediterennean cruise destination is aimed to determine the relative position with respect to cruise experience. To this end, the research conducted October 2014 to October 2015 in Alanya, Kuşadası, İzmir harbour for cruise tourist who join the cruise tour. The survey method is used to take data in terms of the purposes. The survey has been applied 528 cruise tourist which arrive with 23 cruise ship in Alanya, Kuşadası and İzmir harbour. According to the results, it indicates that demographic conditions which affect the participation decision to the tour, the five cruise destination, as Italy, Spain, Greece, Southern Cyprus and Turkey, position different from each other in terms of destination performance. In addition, according to research, with regard to cruise tourist's satisfaction, the possibility of join another or the same tour, the destination that wouldn't choise in the tour route in the future, the best harbour activities there is similarities and dissimilarities between countries. Keywords: Cruise Tourism, Competition In Tourism, Positioning, Destination Positioning,Cruise Destination Positioning.