It is somehow a natural thing that when embarking on a trip abroad or outside of your immediate environment that one makes adequate plans beforehand. In planning some people take longer time than others as can be seen in table 13, 57.4% of the respondents who visited North Cyprus took less than three months to plan their trips while 97 respondents accounting for 23.6% took between three to six months to organize their trip and others who took over six months to plan their trips were 78 in number making up the remaining 19.0%.
Table 13: respondents' travel behavioral characteristics
Sample size (N) = 411
Variable
Frequency Valid
percent
(%) Cum. Percent (%)
Have you ever been to North Cyprus before?
No 246 59.9 59.9
Yes 165 40.1 100.0
How far in advance did you begin planning your trip to North Cyprus?
Less than three months 236 57.4 57.4
Three to six months 97 23.6 81.0
Over six months 78 19.0 100.0
How many days are you planning to spend in North Cyprus?
1 – 10 days 265 64.5 64.5
11 – 20 days 104 25.3 89.8
21 – 30 days 20 4.9 94.7
31 – 40 days 1 0.2 94.9
41 above 21 5.1 100.0
Which of the following best describes your travel party?
Alone 35 8.5 8.5
Couple 138 33.6 42.1
Family and relatives 134 32.6 74.7
Friends and relatives 72 17.5 92.2
Organized groups 32 7.8 100.0
In what types of sources did you use to find information about North Cyprus?
Magazines/newspapers/books/guides 87 21.2 21.2
Internet 195 47.4 68.6
Words of mouth (friends etc.) 107 26.0 94.6
Media (T.V, etc.) 5 1.2 95.9
Fairs and/or exhibitions 5 1.2 97.1
Others 12 2.9 100.0
Type of visit
Own 281 68.4 68.4
Tour 130 31.6 100.0
Type of accommodation
Motel 22 5.4 5.4
Apartment 106 25.8 31.1
Backpacker/hostel 10 2.4 33.6
Hotel 147 35.8 69.3
Service apartment 10 2.4 71.8
Homestay 38 9.2 81.0
Others 78 19.0 100.0
What are the main reasons for your visit to North Cyprus?
Holiday 251 61.1 61.1
The attractions 34 8.3 69.3
Visit friends and relatives 25 6.1 75.4
Educational reasons 20 4.9 80.3
Special events/festival 8 1.9 82.2
Sightseeing/general interests 41 10.0 92.2
Business/conference 8 1.9 94.1
Health 2 0.5 94.6
Religious reasons 2 0.5 95.1
Other 20 4.9 100.0
Despite how much time most people spend in planning for trips abroad, they all tend to spend very short time during the actual trip. The short time visitors spend during trips can be traced to certain reasons such as visa restrictions, job restrictions; financial restrictions etc. In table 13, 369 out of the 411 respondents accounting for accumulative of 89.8% spent less than 20days during their visit, out of which 64. 5% of them stayed for less to 10days. 4.9% and 5.1% of them stayed for 21 to 30days and above 41 days respectively with just one person who stayed for 31 to 40days.
It is more beneficial to be in another country with their loved ones, and so, 138 and 134 of the respondents visited as couples and with family members respectively. 72 respondents came with their friends and relatives while 35 visitors came alone. As it can be shown in table 13, only 32 tourists came by organized groups.
It is obvious that most visitors get to hear about North Cyprus by two major sources the internet and words of mouth from friends both of these sources accounted for 73.4% of the patronage, interestingly magazine/newspaper/books/guides also was a good source too with 87 visitors using that means while 5 people each used media such as Television and fairs/or exhibitions as sources leaving 20 people that used other unknown sources.
281 of the total respondents came on their own while the remaining 130 came in an organized tour. North Cyprus being a home to hotels of different styles and for different classes of visitors, so it did not come as a surprise that most of the visitors opted for hotels as their accommodation options, in fact, 38.5% of the total respondents stayed in hotels, 25.8% stayed in rented apartments. Some who owned their personal properties especially the British people stayed home during their visiting periods, 9.2% stayed home, 2.4% each stayed in hostel and service apartments while 22 stayed in motels leaving 72 staying in other available accommodation types.
Apart from the 20 respondents who visited for other unknown reasons, most of them came for holidays. Actually from table 13, 61.1% of them came for holidays, 8.3%, 6.1%, 4.9% and 10.0% had the attractions, visiting friends and relatives, educational and sightseeing respectively as reasons for their visitations. Health and religious reasons were the least reasons behind their visitations.
6.2.3. Respondents’ expectations versus perceptions
Using the paired-samples T test in SPSS, an examination of the level of satisfaction of the respondents with the 16 different destination elements or attributes was conducted. In other to achieve this, there was a comparison between the difference in the respondents’ expectations and their perceptions (experiences). This can be seen in the table below;
Table 14: respondents' expectation versus perception paired t-test result analysis
Sample size (N) = 411
Expectation
(E) Perception
(P)
(P) – (E) t-Test
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
T-Value
Sig – t
1. Personal safety and security
4.73
0.567
4.30
0.790
-0.426
-9.586
0.000
2.Easily reached destinations
4.05
0.959
3.92
0.933
-0.131
-2.863
0.004
3.Cleanliness of destinations
4.26
0.805
3.90
0.910
-0.365
-7.536
0.000
4. Unspoiled nature 4.10 0.815 3.77 0.796 -0.331 -7.356 0.000
5. Climate conditions 4.02 0.855 3.93 0.902 -0.090 -1.804 0.000
6. Diversity of cultural/historical attractions
4.04
0.876
4.00
0.838
-0.046
-1.107
0.269
7.Quality of accommodations
4.12
0.776
3.86
0.845
-0.258
-5.822
0.000
8.Friendliness and hospitality of the local people
4.26
0.764
4.00
0.873
-0.265
-6.066
0.000
9. Convenience of the local transportation services.
3.72
1.065
3.64
0.963
-0.075
-1.418
0.157
10. Variety of local cuisine.
3.98
0.883
3.84
0.846
-0.141
-3.080
0.000
11. Possibilities for shopping
3.55
1.145
3.52
1.008
-0.032
-0.545
0.586
12. Availability of sports and recreational activities
3.42
1.127
3.40
1.044
-0.022
-0.428
0.699
13. Availability of cultural and other events
3.66
1.069
3.64
0.951
-0.022
-0.435
0.664
14. Nightlife and entertainment
3.40
1.144
3.42
1.078
0.027
0.504
0.614
15. Wellness and spa services
3.09
1.182
3.19
1.134
0.97
1.679
0.094
16. Conference services
2.53
1.374
2.96
1.247
0.428
6.768
0.000
Note:
• SD is standard deviation
• Sig t is significance level
• (P) – (E) is the difference between the average mean values for the perception and the expectation attributes.
In analyzing the results in table 14 above, the attributes were segmented into three major interpretations namely;
1. Positive attributes
For the sake of this study, positive attributes (satisfying attributes) are those attributes with positive mean difference that is those whose perception mean scores surpasses their expectation counterparts having a 5% significant t-value (i.e. sig t ≤ 0.05). From the results above attributes 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10 and 16 were able to gain the statistical significance level of 5% but unfortunately only 16 being conference services could be classified under satisfying attributes because it was able to meet the two criteria of having a positive mean score value and a sig t value less than or equal 0.05.
2. Neutral attributes
Those attributes whose significance t-value were less than 0.05 irrespective of their mean score values been positive or negative were regarded as indifferent attributes. Those attributes in this category include attributes 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15. They were not able to gain statistical significance; this means that there were negligible difference between the means of the expectation and perception of the respondents. More so there was a merger between the expectations of the respondents and their perceptions which led to the neutrality in the feelings towards these attributes. These attributes can also be termed as indifferent attributes.
3. Negative attributes
Lastly the negative attributes (dissatisfying attributes) are those whose expectations mean score values surpasses their corresponding perception mean score values that is they have negative mean scores not minding if their sig t-value scores are higher or lower than 0.05 level. Those in the group from the result in Table 14 were attributes 1, 2, 3, 4, up to 13. For the purpose of this study; only attributes 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 and 10 are to be in this group since the other ones are already in the previous group.
6.2.4. Tourists’ satisfaction/dissatisfaction and loyalty
Satisfaction in the contest of this study like earlier stated is a positive difference between the tourists’ expectation and their perception (that is when the level of their experiences surpasses their initial expectations). Continuous satisfaction leads to loyalty; if after their visit and they show intent of revisiting over and over again then they term to become loyal. Loyalty is when a customer prefers a particular product above other competitive ones; when a customer is continuously attracted to a particular brand which makes him continue to patronize. Loyalty is arguably one of the most important factors in the sustenance of any brand whether goods or services because with loyal customers one is very sure the business has a future and is sustainable.
This part of the study quizzed the respondents to ascertain their overall satisfaction not with those specific attributes but their entire experience and also to investigate their willingness to return. This was done by pointing out some statements based on their level of happiness with their visit on a 5 – point likert scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”
As seen in table 15, 0.6% of the strongly disagreed that their visit had a any special meaning whatsoever to them, 26.5% each disagreed and neither agree nor disagreed while a cumulative percentage of 65.5% were on the agreed side – those that had special meanings attached to their visits. This particular part of the statement is very important because there is a like hood that if the visitors had special meanings (such as honeymoons, wedding anniversaries, birthdays etc) attached to their visits then they will likely be more observant and keen on enjoying their trips which invariably makes it easier for them to want to return if their experience was worthwhile.
Table 15: satisfaction/dissatisfaction and loyalty
Frequency Valid Percent (%)
This trip has a special meaning to me
Strongly disagree 25 0.6
disagree 109 26.5
Neither agree nor disagree 109 26.5
Agree 140 34.1
Strongly agree 129 31.4
total 411 100.0
Generally, I am satisfied with my visitation
Strongly disagree 1 0.2
Disagree 13 3.2
Neither agree nor disagree 74 18.0
Agree 178 43.3
Strongly agree 145 35.3
total 411 100.0
I would love to return to North Cyprus some day
Strongly disagree 7 1.7
Disagree 20 4.9
Neither agree nor disagree 81 19.7
Agree 153 37.2
Strongly agree 150 36.5
Total 411 100.0
It was worth the price I paid for this trip
Strongly disagree 8 1.9
Disagree 17 4.1
Neither agree nor disagree 86 20.9
Agree 153 37.2
Strongly agree 147 35.8
Total 411 100.0
I will say positive things about North Cyprus to other people
Strongly disagree 8 1.9
Disagree 10 2.4
Neither agree nor disagree 62 15.1
Agree 158 38.4
Strongly agree 173 42.1
Total 411 100.0
I will highly recommend North Cyprus to those who want to take a trip to North Cyprus
Strongly disagree 8 1.9
Disagree 8 1.9
Neither agree nor disagree 73 17.8
Agree 159 38.7
Strongly agree 163 39.7
Total 411 100.0
The tests of loyalty consist of statements such as “I would love to return to North Cyprus someday”, “I will say positive things about North Cyprus to other people” and “I will highly recommend North Cyprus to those who want to take a trip to North Cyprus.” This part is so important because it does not only show how retainable the loyal visitors are but also serves as a means of advertisement to their friends, relatives and families who have not heard or visited North Cyprus before.
Interestingly a good number of the visitors not only show intents of revisiting but also wants to say positive things and recommend others about North Cyprus. In fact, as could be seen in table 15, a total of 303 out of the 411 respondents agreed to want to revisit some day that is about 73.7% excluding those who were yet to decide. 80.5% of the respondents agreed to say positive things about North Cyprus to others and 78.4% agreed in terms of recommending North Cyprus to those who wishes to take a trip to North Cyprus.
Figure 6: overall trip satisfaction chart
As could be seen in figure 8; the means of tourists’ responses to the satisfaction/loyalty statements were analyzed and the chart showed they responded above average meaning they were fairly satisfied with their visits.
Five out of the six trip satisfaction statements were rated by the respondents above a rating of 4.0 with just one of the statements below this rating (that is if the trip had a special meaning to them). This is simply because it has nothing to do with what they experienced during the visit, it is more or less part of the reason they embark on their visits so this means that overall speaking the tourists who visited and responded to this study were satisfied, the visit was worth the price they paid for, they showed intents of revisiting, willing to say positive things and to recommend North Cyprus to others who would like to take a trip to North Cyprus.
6.2.5. Relationship between tourists’ overall trip satisfaction and tourist’ demographic characteristics (hypothesis 1 test)
When the respondents were asked about their overall trip satisfaction, 35.3% of the respondents strongly agreed they were satisfied with their visit, 43.3% of them agreed to be satisfied, making a cumulative of 78.6% of the total respondent that indicated that they were satisfied with their visits. 18.0% neither agreed nor disagreed to be satisfied, they were neutral in their responses, and 3.4% of the respondents strongly disagreed or disagreed that they were satisfied with their trip, in other words they were not satisfied. Table 15 showed the summary of this result. The mean value of the respondents’ overall perceived trip satisfaction was 4.1 (see Figure 6); on a satisfaction scale of 5 this was a high score. This score indicates that the tourists had a satisfactory experience during the visit to North Cyprus.
To ascertain if there exist a relationship between tourists’ overall trip satisfaction and tourists’ demographic characteristics such as nationality, gender, age, level of education, employment status and annual income before tax the following hypothesis was applied;
Ho1: there is no statistically significant difference in tourist overall trip satisfaction as regards to tourists’ demographic characteristics.
Ha1: there is a statistically significant difference in tourist overall trip satisfaction as regards to at least one of the tourists’ demographic characteristics.
The hypothesis was tested by a two-tailed independent t-test and one-way ANOVA test. The test results of the mean difference of tourists’ overall trip satisfaction by the respondents’ demographic characteristics as seen in table 16 showed that there were no statistically significant difference in the tourists’ overall trip satisfaction in terms of the following tourists’ demographical characteristics; nationality, gender, age, employment status and approximate annual income before tax. Nonetheless, there was a statistically significant difference in the overall trip satisfaction of the tourists by the highest level of education attained. Tukey HSD Post Hoc test revealed that there were statistically significant mean differences between respondents whose highest level of education attained was vocational school and those of secondary school, high school, university masters degree, and university bachelors degree (see appendix 2). This result showed that despite that the respondents all had moderately high level of satisfaction; the respondents whose highest level of education attainment was primary school were more satisfied with their trip compared to the others. Therefore the null hypothesis, Ho1 could only be rejected for the highest level of education attained; while the alternative hypothesis, Ha1 could be accepted.
Table 16: 2-tailed independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA results of the mean difference of tourists' overall trip satisfaction by tourists' demographic characteristics
Variable Frequency Mean Standard
Deviation
Nationality (F = 2.043; p = 0.049)
Britain 199 4.090 0.847
Germany 30 3.700 0.876
Russia 24 4.250 0.607
Denmark 21 4.095 0.830
Hungary 9 4.555 0.527
Netherlands 10 4.000 0.816
Poland 22 4.409 0.590
Others 96 4.114 0.819
Gender ( t = 0.718; p = 0.473)
Male 177 4.14 0.779
Female 234 4.08 0.851
Age (F = 1.516; p = 0.184 )
18 – 30 202 4.183 0.811
31 – 40 72 4.166 0.671
41 – 50 64 3.953 0.898
51 – 60 52 3.961 0.791
61 – 70 11 3.818 1.167
70 – above 10 4.000 1.054
Highest level of education attained (F = 2.800; p = 0.011*)
Primary school 14 4.214 0.699
Secondary school 76 4.210 0.753
High school 85 4.035 0.892
Vocational school 16 3.375 0.957
University master's degree 107 4.102 0.800
Polytechnic 18 4.000 0.594
University bachelor's degree 95 4.200 0.806
Employment status ( F = 0.367; p = 0.832)
Employed 224 4.107 0.807
Unemployed 47 4.000 0.807
Retired 37 4.189 0.907
Student 87 4.126 0.774
Others 16 4.000 1.095
Approximate annual income before tax
( F = 1.174; p = 0.322)
less than $19,999 168 4.196 0.820
$20,000 – $39,999 128 4.000 0.813
$40,000 – $59,999 75 4.093 0.841
$60,000 – $79,999 27 4.000 0.784
$80,000 or more 13 4.153 0.800
*The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level
6.2.6. Relationship between tourists’ overall trip satisfaction and tourists’ travel behavioral characteristics (hypothesis 2 test)
To ascertain if there exist a relationship between tourists’ overall trip satisfaction and tourists’ travel behavioral characteristics such as previous visit, visitation advance planning time, duration of stay, travel party, sources of information about North Cyprus, type of visit, type of accommodation and main reason for visiting, the following hypothesis was applied;
Ho2: there is no statistically significant difference in tourist overall trip satisfaction as regards to tourists’ travel behavioral characteristics.
Ha2: there is a statistically significant difference in tourist overall trip satisfaction as regards to at least one of the tourists’ travel behavioral characteristics.
The hypothesis was tested by a two-tailed independent t-test and one-way ANOVA test. The test results of the mean difference of tourists’ overall trip satisfaction by the respondents’ travel behavioral characteristics as seen in table 17 below showed that there were no statistically significant difference in the tourists’ overall trip satisfaction in terms of the following tourists’ travel behavioral characteristics – duration of stay, travel party, sources of information about North Cyprus, type of visit, type of accommodation and main reason for visiting. There were statistically significant differences in the overall trip satisfaction of the tourists by both previous visits and visitation advance planning time. Tukey HSD Post Hoc test revealed that there was a statistically significant mean difference between respondents who took less than 3 months to plan their trip and those who took three to six months. This test results revealed that respondents who have been to North Cyprus before were more satisfied than those who just visited for the first time. Also, respondents who planned their visit within three to six months were more satisfied with their visit than those who took less than three months and those who took more than six months.
The null hypothesis Ho2 which says there is no statistically significant difference in tourist overall trip satisfaction as regards to tourists’ travel behavioral characteristics should be accepted in terms of duration of stay, travel party, sources of information about North Cyprus, type of visit, type of accommodation and main reason for visiting but rejected in terms of previous visits and visitation advance planning time.
Table 17: 2-tailed independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA results of the mean difference of tourists' overall trip satisfaction by tourists' demographic characteristics
Variable Frequency Mean Standard deviation
Have you ever been to North Cyprus before? (t = -3.117; p = 0.002* )
No 246 4.00 0.823
Yes 165 4.25 0.794
Visitation advance planning time (F = 3.195; p = 0.042* )
Less than three months 236 4.027 0.801
Three to six months 97 4.278 0.813
Over six months 78 4.102 0.861
duration of stay (in days) (F = 1.670; p = 0.156)
1 – 10 days 265 4.034 0.822
11 – 20 days 104 4.240 0.794
21 – 30 days 20 4.250 0.850
31 – 40 days 1 5.000
41 – above 21 4.095 0.830
Travel party (F = 0,973; p = 0.422)
Alone 35 3.942 0.802
Couple 138 4.036 0.796
Family members 134 4.164 0.860
Friends and relatives 72 4.194 0.780
Organized groups 32 4.093 0.856
Sources of information about North Cyprus (F= 0.768; p = 0.573)
Magazine/newspaper/books/guides 87 4.183 0.707
Internet 195 4.020 0.843
Words of mouth (friends, etc.) 107 4.177 0.855
Media (T.V, etc.) 5 4.200 0.836
Fairs and/or exhibitions 5 4.200 0.836
Others 12 4.083 0.900
Type of visit (t =1.830 ; p = 0.068)
Own 281 4.150 0.857
Tour 130 4.000 0.726
Type of accommodation (F= 1.894; p = 0-081)
Motel 22 3.772 0.922
Apartment 106 4.028 0.821
Backpacker/hostel 10 4.100 1.100
Hotel 147 4.068 0.816
Service apartment 10 4.500 0.849
Home stay 38 4.342 0.814
Others 78 4.192 0.721
Main reason for visiting (F = 1.002; p = 0.438)
Holiday 251 4.107 0.824
The attractions 34 4.110 0.879
Visit friends and relatives 25 4.240 0.879
Educational reasons 20 3.800 0.833
Special event/festival 8 3.875 0.640
Sightseeing/general interests 41 4.243 0.699
Business/conference 8 3.875 0.834
Health 2 5.000 0.000
Religious reasons 2 4.000 0.000
Other 20 3.950 0.887
*The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level
6.2.7. Relationship between tourists’ overall trip satisfaction and tourists’ perceived loyalty (hypothesis 3 test)
Hypothesis HO3was proposed to evaluate the relationship between tourists overall trip satisfaction and tourists’ perceived loyalty.
HO3: there is no relationship between tourists’ perceived loyalty and tourists’ demographic/travel behavioral characteristics that influenced tourists’ overall trip satisfaction.
Ha3: there is a relationship between tourists’ perceived loyalty and at least one of tourists’ demographic/travel behavioral characteristics that influenced tourists’ overall trip satisfaction.
In testing this hypothesis, the three loyalty questions in table 15 was computed to form a single variable called tourist perceived loyalty. The mean and standard deviation of the new variable was 4.101 and 0.807 respectively. Then an independent samples t – test, and ANOVA was conducted to check the relationship between the new variable and the derived variables that initially influenced tourists’ overall trip satisfaction.
Table 18: Statistical analysis showing the relationship between tourists' perceived loyalty and the derived variables
Variable Frequency Mean Standard
Deviation
Have you ever been to North Cyprus before?
(t = -3.838; p = 0.000* )
No 246 4.00 0.823
Yes 165 4.25 0.794
Visitation advance planning time (F = 0.769 p = 0.464 )
Less than three months 236 4.065 0.795
Three to six months 97 4.185 0.780
Over six months 78 4.106 0.873
Highest level of education attained (F = 1.205; p = 0.303)
Primary school 14 4.047 0.597
Secondary school 76 4.175 0.656
High school 85 4.058 0.917
Vocational school 16 3.916 0.683
University master's degree 107 4.149 0.789
Polytechnic 18 3.685 0.332
University bachelor's degree 95 4.143 0.920
*The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level
The results of the test as summarized in Table 18 revealed that out of the three tourists’ characteristics that showed significant differences with tourists’ overall trip satisfaction only one (previous visit to North Cyprus) showed significant difference with tourists’ perceived loyalty with t = -3.838 (p = 0.000). This result further revealed that those tourists who had visited previously were perceived to be more loyal; that is they agreed to want to revisit, to say positive things about North Cyprus to others and to recommend North Cyprus to potential visitors. Based on this result, hypothesis Ho3 could be rejected because one of the factors that influenced tourists’ overall trip satisfaction also influenced their decisions to want to revisit someday, their decision to recommend and to say positive things about North Cyprus to others. Therefore there is a relationship between tourists’ satisfaction and tourist perceived loyalty.
6.2.8. Tourists’ opinions and suggestions
The respondents were asked to evaluate ten basic destination attributes of North Cyprus; this is so to get what their approval ratings were towards these attributes. They were to rate each on the scale of 1 to 5 (1 = poor, 2 = needs improvement, 3 = fair, 4 = good and 5 = excellent). The means of the tourists’ responses were taken and evaluated to compare which of the destination attributes needed immediate attention.
The chart in figure 9 showed that all ten destination attributes ratings fell below 4 but above 3 which implied that they were all rated fairly. These suggestions and opinions from the tourists meant that more work needed to be done by the North Cyprus tourism sector as to improve more on these attributes. They should pay more attention to transportation/accessibility, community service, directional signage and adventure and outdoor recreational facilities.
Figure 7: destination attributes overall rating
CHAPTER SEVEN
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMEDATIONS
7.1. Conclusions
This research work was intended to investigate the international tourists’ satisfaction with the tourism industry of Turkish Republic of North Cyprus. The research happened to be very interesting and important because of the critical position the tourism industry holds in the Economy the North Cyprus; it is one of the most vital sectors of the country’s economy. In trying to achieve the objectives of this study, lots of literatures related to this kind of research were extensively reviewed. It was emphasized in this study that tourists characteristics such as demographic and travel behavior, tourists expectations, tourists perceptions, the destination attributes and tourists satisfaction were all inter related.
This research was carried out by a quantitative research method. Some frequently visited places by tourist in the three major districts of Girne, Famagusta and Lefkosa were selected as research areas. The survey was conducted in the months of August, September and October, 2015. The study tool used was a designed questionnaire taken from a previous study conducted on this topic; it was sectioned into four major parts, the tourists’ travel behavioral characteristics, expectation versus perception towards destination attributes, tourists’ satisfaction and loyalty and finally their demographic characteristics.
A sum total of 464 visitors were approached and surveyed. Some specific study questions and four hypotheses were formulated as a guide to achieve the purpose of the study. The data collected were effectively coded and Microsoft Excel program and SPSS program came in handy for computing and analyzing the coded data.
The three major hypotheses of this study were tested, in testing these hypotheses Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and independent samples t- test were conducted.
7.1.1. Summary of research findings
411 questionnaires out of the 464 distributed were used in this study. The questionnaire was divided into different parts; in the tourists’ demographic part, travel behavior part, the expectation versus perception part and the satisfaction and loyalty part; as regards to these different parts, the following findings were made;
Many tourists visited from different parts of the world with the British tourists having the highest percentage. In comparison to their male counterparts, the female who visited were more in number having 56.9% as against the male with 43.1% in attendance. It was observed that the majority of the visitors were actively within the young age of 18 years to 30 years of age with 49.1% of the total number. In terms of the highest level of education attained by the visitors; those with university master degrees were more. 54.5% of the tourists were employed and the approximate annual incomes before tax of the majority of the visitors were less than 19, 999 US dollar.
It was first time visit to North Cyprus for 246 out of the 411 respondents; majority of the visitors spent very short amount of time during their visit mostly between 1 to 10 days after spending less than three months preparing for their trips.
Information as to how most of the visitors got to find out about North Cyprus were gotten from the Internet and majority of the visitors came in as couples and closely followed by those who came in with family members. Those who personally arranged their trips were more than those who used tour agencies. Spending holidays was the major reasons for the majority of the visitors and the hotels were the most convenient apartment options for most of them.
The study in analyzing the tourists’ expectation and perception towards the16 chosen destination attributes discovered that their perceptions towards these attributes varied, they had some positive, some negative and some they felt indifferent. Personal security and safety was one of the main attributes the tourist had so much expectation on, though the security situation in North Cyprus is very calm and peaceful, people can even freely walk at almost any time of the day even at nights without any sense of insecurity but the tourists’ perception was lower than their expectations.
The respondents when asked to rate their overall experience during their visit, they were all fairly satisfied with their visit except for some few of them who were not. They made intentions of returning to North Cyprus some day, also to say positive things about North Cyprus and to recommend the country to their friends and others; this is so important for the sustainability of the tourism industry because it is a very good and reliable means of advertizing the industry.
The study in analyzing the relationship between tourists’ overall trip satisfaction in terms of tourists’ demographic characteristics and travel behavioral characteristics used two tailed independent samples t-test and Analysis Variance. The result showed that there was a statistically significant difference among the groups, divided by Highest level of education attained (F = 2.800; p ≤ 0.05). More so, the result revealed that there was a statistically significant difference among the groups, divided by previous visit to North Cyprus (t = -3.117; p ≤ 0.05) and preparation time before visit (F = 3.195; p ≤0.05) in the overall trip satisfaction.
Finally the rating on some of the selected destination attributes by the tourist were really not good enough, on a scale of 1 to 5 (poor to excellent) none of these attributes scaled up to 4, meaning they were within the region of fair to good.
7.2. Recommendations
Several recommendations can be made as regards to enhancing and increasing tourists’ satisfaction with the tourism industry of North Cyprus based on the findings of this research study.
This study showed that there were statistically significant differences in tourists’ overall trip satisfaction with regards to tourists’ highest level of education attained, previous visit and preparation time before visit. This result confirmed the findings from other researchers like Jin Huh (2002) who reported that gender, past experience and decision time to travel were significantly related to the satisfaction of the tourists who visited the Virginia Historic Triangle [18]. This study revealed that tourists who had previously visited North Cyprus were more satisfied than the first time visitors. So with these findings, it is hopeful that the tourism marketers and planners in North Cyprus would focus and strategize on developing products fit for this group. To encourage and make revisiting more attractive for the tourist especially the first timer visitors, tourism planners and marketers should give out free gifts and souvenirs to them.
From the demographic results of this study, it was shown that majority of the visitors were British followed by the Germans, they were mostly women, within the young ages of 18 to 30, though duly employed but are within annual salaries of less than 19,999 US dollars. Since, an existing study by Metin Kozak (2002) revealed that the British tourist like to have fun and easily relates with other tourist while the German tourists were attracted by diversities of cultural activities and nature-oriented activities[60]. It is therefore recommended that the tourism planners and marketers should take advantage of the abundant cultural festivals and natural oriented activities such as hiking, mountain climbing, surfing etc to lure and to keep the German tourist as loyal clients. Also since this study showed differences in demographic and travel behavioral characteristics towards their satisfaction level, I recommend that target promotions and adverts should used to attract different tourists from these different groups.
Finally, the significance of this research to the body of knowledge was the approach used in relating tourists’ overall trip satisfaction and tourists’ perceived loyalty. This approach may not be very reliable as there were no existing research evidences to back it up. Nevertheless, so many studies and researchers have shown like this study showed that there is a relationship between tourists’ satisfaction and tourist perceived loyalty. Customer loyalty being the lifeline of the sustainability of any business must be taken seriously; in order to gain more loyalty from the tourists, the tourism marketers and planners must ensure that the expectations of the new and old visitors are met and even surpassed. In order to help them achieve this I make the following recommendations;
• There should be a good feedback mechanism in place both digital and physically positioning of complaints/suggestion boxes in some of the strategic sites as this will help the visitors to express the likes and dislikes about the industry.
• There should be reliable website where the different tourism sites, locations, roadmaps, hotels, annual festivals and upcoming events could be easily assessed.
• Promotional packages should be given to the visitors on a regular basis especially the first time visitors.
• The managers, marketers and planners of North Cyprus tourism industry should develop more of family oriented products and services.
• There should be a synergy between the tour agencies, government and other stakeholders in the industry. As this will help to bridge the gap between those tourist on self tour and those who patronize the tour agencies.
7.3. Limitations
The results and implications drawn from this study also obviously subject to several limitations. First, the work was targeted to quiz a minimum of at least 600 respondents which would have really helped to improve the outcome of the research but it was limited due to some financial constraints. Some of the tourists were very defensive and unapproachable, some of them refused due to lack of time on their part to answer the questions. 464 questions were giving out; out of which 411 were usable this was due to the fact that some of the questions were skipped and unanswered basically because some of the questions were personal to them. The study area was restricted to three out of the five districts on the Island for obvious reasons of logistics – not been mobile enough to get through all the other districts. Finally another major limitation could be that the attributes used as independent variables might not be enough considering that there might be more other attributes that could also influence the overall satisfaction of the tourists.