Coopetition in Maritime Tourism: Assessing the Effect of Previous Islands’ Choice and Experience in Tourist Satisfaction

Abstract

Maritime tourism has become a competitive opportunity for many island destinations in search of sustainable development. This article aims to analyze the hypothesis that tourist satisfaction with nautical destinations depends on the experience of previous visits to competing destinations. This hypothesis is relevant in order to ascertain the extent of potential coopetition between tourist destinations from the point of view of the consumers. This may ask for the need of cooperation within the competitive environment in which tourist destinations manage sustainability. The evidence is obtained from the case of Cape Verde, an archipelago strongly committed to the development of the nautical sector. Survey data from nautical tourists’ satisfaction visiting Cape Verde is modeled utilizing an ordinal logistic approach. Results show that tourist satisfaction with Cape Verde increases with the authenticity of the cultural experience offered by the destination, the diversity and quality of the nautical offer and the security perceived. Moreover, tourists declaring a satisfactory travel experience in other recently visited islands have higher levels of satisfaction with the nautical destination of Cape Verde. This suggests that proper strategies for nautical tourism development in these islands should not only allow tourists to discover the best cultural and local values of the destination, but also enhance their awareness of the quality of the experience provided by island competitors and, therefore establishing a benchmark for the common benefit of all island destinations becomes of interest. In this regard, coopetition strategies among islands with common interests of specialization may allow them to gain better positioning in the international nautical tourism market, and contribute to tourism development and the sustainability of the industry.

Sustainability and Tourism Marketing: A Bibliometric Analysis of Publications between 1997 and 2020 Using VOSviewer Software

“…They were published in the last 5 years and were considered the most cited and relevant. [ [90][91][92][93] The 25 selected articles were divided into five research areas using content analysis: "Perceived Sustainability and Tourist Behavior", "Destination and Place Branding", "Destination Management", "Ecotourism and Rural Tourism" and "Maritime and Island Tourism". The objective is to capture the gaps and objectives they intend to fulfill.…”

Aesthetic Qualities of Island Tourism in Malaysia's East Coast Region: Does Duration of Stay Matter in Satisfying Tourists?

“…In this way, groups, institutions and cities express ideas, ambitions, and intentions captured in the distinctive design of their buildings that could encourage tourists to come and revisit the attraction site. Island tourism that involves activities related to the value placed on the arts and architecture of the place is considered an economic catalyst for coastal destinations due to its high multiplier effect on employment, ease of integration into the traditional tourist offers and the boosts it gives to the qualification of the coastlines and innovation (Lam-Gonzalez et al, 2019). Lam-Gonzalez et al (2019) stated that developing island networking structures through infrastructure, cultural assets, natural environments, and promotion could increase island destinations' competitiveness.…”

Understanding British and Danish sailing tourism markets: an analysis based on Kano's Evaluation Matrix

“…There have also been studies that evaluated the constraints on nautical tourism (Jovanovic et al, 2013) and dimensions of yachting tourism experiences (Mikulić et al, 2015;Pipere et al, 2020). However, very few studies have examined sailing tourist satisfaction, and the impacts of marina attributes on sailing tourism experience (González et al, 2018;Lam-González et al, 2019a, 2019b. González et al (2018) examined the relationship between the weather and the number of nautical activities by using the ordinal logistic regression model.…”

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