Analysing customer purchasing preferences at Turkish crusing market

In this study, it is aimed to put forward a perceptual viewpoint by analyzing the consumers' experiences and thoughts to understand their preferences and to determine their priorities while deciding to buy cruise holidays in Turkey Cruise Tourism Market. Depending on the researcher's ability to access, the participants are chosen by volunteers, between 30 to 75 years old people, who are members of similar socio-cultural sub-groups, who have participated in cruise trips at least once, who live in Turkey, who have their own income and ability to choose to buy. In the demografic data, the aim is to have a balanced distribution towards the target and a structured sample is formed. Two separate focus groups, consisting of 10 people aged 60 and over (third age) and 6 people aged between 30 and 60 years (middle age) are created. Adding to this, the interviews were completed by asking previously prepared open-ended questions to 25 people. The study was completed with a sample volume of 41 people in total. An in-depth interview was conducted with an expert in order to identify the questions and to obtain sectoral and experiential knowledge supporting the theoretical knowledge. Focus group study and Interview study methods were used as the research methods and the findings were subjected to content analysis. As a result of the study it is found out that while deciding on the cruise holiday purchase, the participants first look at the destination attractiveness, followed by price, seasonality, time spent on board, tour operator's image and ship concept. Keywords: Cruise Shipping Marketing, Customer Purchasing Preferences, Focus Grup, Marine Tourism.