Abstract:

    Tourism is an important industry for Turkey and there is huge potential for marine tourism due to rapid growth in tourism sector. The number of marinas in Turkey doubled during the past decade and yachting also became the main component of marine tourism industry. These developments have played a great role in increasing the number of yachts and tourists so the customer satisfaction, which is strongly related with service quality, has become even more important due to the increasing competition in the sector.           In the light of these, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of perceived service quality on customer satisfaction in marinas in Turkey. In accordance with this objective, mixed research methods were selected. First the variables of service quality were determined through face-to-face interviews just after literature survey. Then the variables and customers’ perceptions of these determinants were analyzed through field research. Totally 134 customers from 8 different marinas were involved in this study. It is expected that the results of the study provides certain outcomes and guidelines for the related organizations dealing with yachting operations and proposes certain suggestions for effective and efficient coordination among the relevant institutions.

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