A Big-Data–Based Analysis on the Impact of Cruise Tourism Image on Chinese Tourist Satisfaction and Behavioral Intentions

Wu, L.; Dong, C., and Xiong, G., 2020. A big-data–based analysis on the impact of cruise tourism image on Chinese tourist satisfaction and behavioral intentions. In: Gong, D.; Zhang, M., and Liu, R. (eds.), Advances in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 106, pp. 314–318. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.This research, targeted at Chinese cruise tourists, divides the cruise tourism image into five dimensions: cruise infrastructure, services, leisure and entertainment, cruise brand, and atmosphere. The purpose is to explore the impact of cruise image on Chinese tourists' satisfaction and behavior intention. In this research, all comments on popular cruises “Royal Caribbean International-Spectrum of the Seas,” “Princess-Sapphire Princess,” “Costa-Venezia,” and “Star Cruises-Explorer Dream” on popular China-Japan lanes posted by Chinese cruise tourists on Ctrip in 2019 are extracted with Python software. Word frequency analysis, semantic network analysis, and sentiment analysis in big data text analysis are applied. The results indicate that the image of infrastructure, service image, leisure & entertainment image, cruise brand image and the image of tourism atmosphere of cruises have a significant positive impact on the satisfaction and behavioral intentions of Chinese tourists. In this regard, the recommendations for cruise brands are as follows: (1) To update entertainment items on cruises and improve the maintenance of infrastructure from time to time. (2) To make on-shore activities more interesting. (3) To strengthen the uniqueness of cruise brands. (4) To expand the target customer group. (5) To provide more customized services.