Evaluation of Istanbul Port in Cruise Tourism in Terms of Brand Value

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2 Online Access: International Journal of Operations and Logistics Management Volume 4, Issue 4 Pages: December 2015 e-issn: p-issn: Evaluation of Istanbul Port in Cruise Tourism in Terms of Brand Value Professor Güler ALKAN, Asst. Prof. Gülsüm KORALTÜRK*, Assist Prof. Güzide Öncü EROĞLU PEKTAŞ, Cengiz KAHRAMAN (PhD) Istanbul University, Turkey Istanbul is one of oldest cities in the world which hosted a lot of civilizations during historical ages. The characteristic results in combination of both time and place related legacy. As from the first ages till Ottoman time, Istanbul by showing a great landscape with historical and cultural places is like a outdoor museum. All these characteristics helped Istanbul to host many tourism activities. One type of these activities is Cruise Tourism. In recent years as an alternative tourism type with an increasing economic growth and attendance, Cruise Tourism, is a tourism type in tourism vitality that includes recreational actions. Cruise Tourism especially provides great support in economics terms to destinations with maritime and cultural tourism potential. In general cruise tourism, without the intention to transportation, clearly based on trips to destinations decided before departure from origin, daily visits to historical and cultural areas during each call and as well as vacation with a lot of activities during voyage. Cruise Tourism has achieved an important place in international tourism with a big progress in recent years. As per the data s from Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) more than 16,000,000 people do travel with cruise ships. Combining transportation, accommodation, food/ beverage supplies and entertainment activities in one hand in a sngle place despite other tourism types is the main reason that Cruise Tourism is highly preferred. Accordingly with a single pricing for all activities makes Cruise Tourism much cheaper and advantageous than other classis tourism types providing same services. Istanbul stays to be the leading port that cruise ships do call at in Turkey. In 2013, around 689,000 people have visited Istanbul by 381 calls by cruise ships. World Cruise Companies have announced Istanbul as Turn-Around-Port-Home Port and got it in progress programme. In this regard, it is important to make necessary arrangements for Istanbul to sustain Istanbul s brand name achieved nowadays in a great competition. This study briefly mentions the development of Istanbul s historical progress in terms of cultural legacy, as well provides detailed search about cruise tourism history, progress up *Corresponding author: Asst. Prof. Gülsüm KORALTÜRK Istanbul University, Turkey

3 Int. j. oper. logist. manag. p-issn: ; e-issn: Volume: 4, Issue: 4, Pages: to day, and shows Istanbul s importance in today s tourism and predictions for the future. With the study a thorough search in terms of brand name is done for cruise tourism and as well as marketing assessment is done for Istanbul in terms of historical and cultural beauties. City brand and marketing components are also assessed. Meanwhile, study with identifying the weaknesses of Istanbul port, provides the suggestions to sort the problems and weaknesses for a bright future. Keywords: Istanbul port, cruise tourism, brand equity, brand value INTRODUCTION The cruise industry has enjoyed dynamic growth over a period of 30 years, driven initially by demand from North America and more recently by growing demand from Europe and the rest of the world (CLIA, 2015). Cruise Tourism is known as a global phenomenon(wood, 2000). which consists of information flow of such things such as technology, people, information, images and money that results in experiences based on water almost anywhere on the globe. Research on tourism, the cruise industry, and tourist behavior, illustrates how the economic viability of cruise tourism leads to the transformation of historic port cities into so called destinations that require new development, infrastructure, and regulation (Ted, 2006). Cruise Tourism, which is one of the new industries in shipping sector, has emerged as a result of the rising demands of people for cruising with more modern ships. World cruise tourism has been developing with a great acceleration with more ships and increasing capacities. Lately, cruising which has attracted great attention has substantially grown to incorporate a great variety of recreational activities. This tourism type is a significant economic added value especially at sea and culture touring destinations. Roughly, cruisers are taken to visit predetermined destinations, to see historical and cultural sites there, and to enjoy a large variety of vacation activities. The table 1: below presents the number of the cruise passengers who took a cruise trip between 1990 and 2011 as obtained from CLIA (2013). It shows that most of the passengers are from North America. In 1990, the number of the North American passengers amounted to , while were from the rest of the world. In other words, non-north American passengers account for 8% of the total number, however this percentage have remarkably grown up over the last 21 years. In 2011, the percentages were 68% and 32% for North American and non-north American passengers, respectively. FIGURE 1 HERE These figures show that cruise tourism has been drawing more and more attention from outside North America. The table also shows that passengers in 1990 amounted up to in 2011, which means that the number of the cruise passengers increased by 432% over 21 years. While the increase rate is 320% for North American passengers, it accounts for 1.838% for passengers from outside North America. These figures somehow foreshadow the prospect of cruise tourism and signify that it will be the most popular tourism type in the future. (CLIA,2012) North America s share of the global cruise industry is the largest with a value of more than 21 billion U.S. dollars. In 2014, there were 285 ships in operation worldwide with a total passenger capacity of 21.4 million (CLIA, 2015). And every passenger brought an average of 2,123 U.S. dollars in revenue to the global cruise industry. The Cruise Industry is an increasing economic force for countries and ports. The global cruise industry generated revenues of 37.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2014 (CLIA, 2014). During the vacation cruise passengers spend 277

4 Evaluation of Istanbul Port in Cruise Tourism in Terms of Brand Value Alkan et al. their money not only on board but also at shore, and with this regard they also contribute to the national economy of the port which they visit. The industry made significant recovery after revenue fell below 25 billion during the 2009 global recession. In 2014, the cruise company Carnival held the largest share of the cruise market at 41.8 percent, followed by Royal Caribbean at 21.8 percent (Statistica, 2015). Cruise lines are serving the most marketing operators introducing cities culture and serving the luxury tourism to their visitors or quests. Additionally, Carnival Cruise Lines is the best-known cruise brand in North America and the most profitable operator in the world. They have 24 ships operating between 3 to 16-day voyages to the Bahamas, Caribbean, Europe, Mexican Riviera, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, New England, Bermuda, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands (Carnival, 2015). BRAND EQUITY Brand equity has been one of the most topics for cruise industry. Cruise line operators in order to sustain their market share they are improving their service quality and varieties, modernized vessels and adding new routes in their schedules in order to increase their market share. Brand equity has been defined as outcomes that accrue to a product with its brand name compared with those that would accrue if the same product did not have the brand name (Ailawadi, Lehmann, and Neslin 2003, p. 1) that is, the benefits a product achieves through the power of its brand name. Keller and Lehmann (2003) delineate three approaches for assessing brand equity: customer mind-set (e.g., Aaker 1996; Keller 2008), product market (e.g., Park and Srinivisan 1994), and financial market (e.g., Mahajan, Rao, and Srivastava 1994). (Stahl, Mark Heitmann, Donald R. Lehmann, & Scott A. Neslin, 2012, p.45). Understanding brand values and measuring their adoption is critical to understanding the implementation of brand orientation (de Chernatony, Drury, & Segal-Horn, 2006). Reid, Luxton, and Mavondo (2005) identify shared brand vision, shared brand functionality, brand symbolism, and shared brand positioning as critical elements of brand orientation, with brand values a strategic tool to facilitate these goals.( Wallace, Elaine; Isabel Buil and Leslie de Chernatony, 2013, p. 1008). Brand Equity is defined more narrowly as the customer s subjective and intangible assessment of the brand, greater than its perceived value. It is influenced by brand awareness, attitude toward the brand, and corporate ethics, and is typically more important in low- involvement purchases involving simple decision processes. (Bick, 2009, p. 118) Brand Equity is a set of assets (and liabilities) linked to a brand s name and symbol that adds to (or subtracts from) the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or that firm s customers. (Aaker 1996, p.7; Bick, 2009, p. 126) An alternative view is developed by Keller (1998), who proposes the concept of customer-based brand equity, which he defines as the differential effect that brand knowledge has on consumer or customer response to the marketing of that brand (Keller 2002, p. 7). The sources of Brand Equity are derived from a high level of brand awareness and a positive brand image, which then provide consumers with strong, favorable, and unique brand associations. There are similar benefits to the consumer and to the organization to strong brand equity. Kotler (2003, p. 422) defines Brand Equity as the positive differential effect that knowing the brand name has on customer response to the product or service. This leads to customers showing preferences for a brand when products are basically identical, and are prepared to pay a price premium. In addition, brand equity is Bick Increasing shareholder value a major contributor to customer equity, and brand management serves as a major marketing tool to extend the customer lifetime value (Kotler 2003). We focus on the role of consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) in explaining firm risk. This is an important gap in current knowledge for two main reasons. First, risk affects the value that investors place on the firm s cash flows. Therefore, lowering firm risk has an immediate impact on the firm s market value (e.g., Amit and Wernerfelt 1990). Risk also determines a firm s cost of capital (e.g., 278

5 Int. j. oper. logist. manag. p-issn: ; e-issn: Volume: 4, Issue: 4, Pages: Merton 1987; Shin and Stulz 2000). By raising the required rates of return on the firm s equity and debt, higher levels of risk damage the firm s strategic opportunities and future financial returns (e.g., Chatterjee, Lubatkin, and Schulze 1999). Firms expend significant resources building and maintaining brand equity, and these investments are fundamental to marketing theory explanations of firms returns to investors and their risk (Keller and Lehmann 2006; Srivastava, Shervani, and Fahey 1998).( Rego, Billett and Morgan, 2009, p.47). Brand orientation seeks to protect brand identity through building internal understanding of core brand values central to brand identity (Urde, 1999). Baumgarth (2009) stated that brand values reflect a basic understanding of the brand that employees interpret, and use to guide behavior during interactions with external stakeholders. This highlights the role of employees as key to the delivery of brand values ( Punjaisri, Khanyapuss and Heiner Evanschitzky, 2013, p. 981) Cruise tourism manifests itself in many forms and defining a luxury vacation is a very challenging prospect. Cruise operator s is constantly evolving and each individual creates an own sense and understanding of vacationer behaviors in order to sustain their brand value. CRUISE TOURISM IN TURKEY As a bridge between Asia and Europe, at the crossroad of civilizations, Turkey has excelled in establishing itself as a mainstream destination for many European nations because of its rich culture, history and natural beauty. Turkey offers cruise passengers a wide range of riches such as history, cultural heritage, good climate, hospitality, entertainment, religious tour, km un-spoilt coastlines, rich cuisine and foods, shopping etc. Turkey has a great potential with their own cruise tourism values and geographical position to attract cruise customers. Turkey is very rich in historical and cultural sites suitable for cruising tourism. However, Turkey could not realize this potential due to insufficient infrastructure and ineffective organizational plans, and could not keep up with such prominent cruising destinations as the USA, Spain, Italy, France, Greece and Malta. (Kahraman, 2014: ) The total cruise passenger visits (movements) at the Turkish Cruise ports reached passenger by 1572 Cruise calls in In 2014 with the effects of economic crisis the number of passenger and vessel calls decreased respectively to and At the moment there are 19 Cruise Ports in Turkey and Kuşadası, Istanbul, İzmir, Antalya and Marmaris ports are more popular ports and reached more than passenger visit in According to: Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication Cruise Data s Kuşadası port has first place with in total cruise passengers coming Turkey by 31 percent share, and followed by Istanbul nearly 29 % and Izmir 14 %. Most of the Turkish Cruise ports were privatized with in last 10 years, and new owners of these ports have rehabilitated and modernized these ports by heavy investments especially in respect of ISPS Security Code point of view and other facilities (Yazıcı, 2014). CRUISE TOURISM AT ISTANBUL PORT Turkey is located in a suitable region for cruising sector, which is the Mediterranean Basin. In order to open Istanbul, one of the most important touristic centers of Turkey, great efforts are being exerted to develop the cruise ports as a view of Home Port. Also Istanbul is Turkey s most populous city as well as its cultural and financial center with a population of over 14 million people (TUIK, 2015) Istanbul is among the top 10 most visited cities in the world over 8 million tourists in In addition, Istanbul is a unique city where the East meets the West and which remains true to its historic heritage through its mosques, basilicas and bazaars. According to the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism s data, Istanbul welcomed 11.8 million tourists in The top five must-see attractions in Istanbul among many others: The Topkapı Palace, Hagia Sophia, The Basilica Cistern, The Grand Bazaar and The Blue Mosque. 279

6 Evaluation of Istanbul Port in Cruise Tourism in Terms of Brand Value Alkan et al. Istanbul ports established tourism destinations center as part of the creating brand value. The number of international visitors coming to Istanbul (Salı Pazarı/ Karaköy) continues to grow via cruise lines calls. The number of passenger coming to Istanbul port between years figures are seen in the below Figure 2. At the moment, Istanbul port is the only operating cruise port in Istanbul. The port welcomed nearly 600,000 passenger with 331 calls in 2014 and is expected to have an increase over 45% in turn-around operations and 15% in the overall passenger traffic by At the moment, Istanbul port is the only operating cruise port in Istanbul. The port welcomed nearly 600,000 passenger with 331 calls in 2014 and is expected to have an increase over 45% in turn-around operations and 15% in the overall passenger traffic by 2015 (Yazıcı, 2014) The general characteristics of Istanbul port is given. Istanbul port gives services such as security, shelter, mooring, fresh water services, luggage handling and stevedoring. Istanbul port gives services such as security, shelter, mooring, fresh water services, luggage handling and stevedoring. FIGURES 2 & 3 HERE The cruise industry, distinguishes between embarkation ports and ports-of-call. Embarkation, or home, ports are where the cruise itineraries begin. They must be located in major cities with cultural attractions, as well as airports, hotels, and other tourist amenities. TABLES 1 & 2 HERE In table to; the main torus which is calling Istanbul port is given. With the adaption new schedules in their marketing plan, cruise lines increase their brand value with the respect of cruise customer awareness. In addition to this routes, there is also packed flight from Istanbul tours, including the Baltics, Russia, Norway Fiyork ship voyages to Alaska Islands and regularly available services by Princess Lines, Costa Lines, Holland, America and MSC Cruise Lines Company. As we mention bellow, one of the privatization port is Istanbul port, bought by Dogus Group and their partnerships. Now, the company physically took over the port area and immediately renovated the terminal building, updated or renewed the port s equipment. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS Istanbul is one of oldest cities in the world which hosted a lot of civilizations during historical ages. The characteristic results in combination of both time and place related legacy. As from the first ages till Ottoman time, Istanbul by showing a great landscape with historical and cultural places is like a outdoor museum. All these characteristics helped Istanbul to host many tourism activities. One type of these activities is Cruise Tourism. (Kahraman, 2002, p.1) The number of passengers carried by the cruise industry has grown year-on-year and is expected to exceed for the following years. Since Turkey has no Turkish Flag Cruise vessels and not active as a cruise line operator, with the historic tourism heritage, Turkey is being recognized as a desired destination and a home port of foreign cruise vessels. Cruise tourism is gradually gaining ground in the international tourism sector as well as Turkey. In consideration of the inclusion of new destinations in the routes it is estimated that the passenger numbers will be doubled for the following years. Doubtlessly, it is believed that once the aforementioned problems are sorted out, cruise tourism will be safer and so people will participate in cruises more frequently, which is likely to create more economic potential. Following items are the suitable solution steps to sort out below mentioned problems to have a sustainable growth in Istanbul port in terms of cruise tourism and brand value. Continue to increase global potential of İstanbul s historical & cultural heritage and ensure most of the Cruise Lines prefer to add Istanbul Port on their routes and start as well new routes by İstanbul Port as a hub. Create Cruise consumer based customer profile with the Travel Agents. Build a cruise customer awareness and continue to improve Istanbul port brand 280

7 Int. j. oper. logist. manag. p-issn: ; e-issn: Volume: 4, Issue: 4, Pages: name by promoting mass media for both domestic and foreign tourists. To gain the Homeport named with the construction of new or renewed tourist passenger terminal. Reducing port charges and prices in order to attract more cruise ships and passengers for the development of both Turkish Cruise sector and Istanbul port. Building an own cruise fleet in Turkish shipyard and establish Turkish Cruise Line operators as in the past. More frequent use of media to promote Istanbul port and link larger numbers of third parties and passenger groups. In order to increase customer expenditures for the contribution of national economy, build a new gift shops, restaurants and entertainment places near to Istanbul port area. Providing Cruise Lines to stay more than 1 day in Istanbul port in order to increased tourist expenses. Recruit well-trained travel agent staff. This study briefly shows Istanbul s importance in today s tourism and predictions for the future for Istanbul port. With the study a thorough search in terms of brand name is explained for cruise tourism and as well as marketing assessment is done for Istanbul ports in terms of historical and cultural beauties. As a conclusion of study; Turkish cruise tourism needs to be developed and taken as a whole and then to deal separately with the above mentioned action plan with the aspect of brand value. REFERENCES Benjamin Levin, Jennifer Jones, Tom Slade, Carnival Corporation Strategy Report Grifin, Consulting Group, April 11, Bick, Geoffrey N. C. Increasing Shareholder Value Through Building Customer and Brand Equity, Journal of Marketing Management, 2009, Vol. 25, No. 1-2, pp Cruise Tourism Statistics, 2015, ttps://atlantis.udhb.gov.tr/istatistik/is tatistik_kruvaziyer.aspx, 2015, Access date, , Online Edition. Carnival Cruise Lines, 2015, European Cruise Council 2012, The Cruise Industry Contribution of Cruise Tourism to the Economies of Europe, 2012 Access date, , online Edition, ent=opera&q=european+cruise+report +2012%2C&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF- 8&oe=UTF-8 European Cruise Council 2014, The Cruise Industry Contribution of Cruise Tourism to the conomies of Europe, 2014 Access date, , Online Edition, latest-news/33-clia-europe-launches economic-contribution-report. IMEAK Chamber of Shipping, Maritime Sector Report, 2011, Access date, , Online Edition, n-en/pages/sector-report.aspx Kahraman C., "The Place And Future of Cruise In International Tourism", Global Tourism&Hospitality Conference and Asia Tourism Forum, Hong Kong, ÇIN HALK CUM., Mayıs 2014, vol.1, no.1, pp Kahraman C., "Bir Turizm Destinasyonu Olarak Bodrum da Kruvaziyer Turizmi Olanakları, III.Uluslarası Her Yönüyle Bodrum Sempozyumu, MUĞLA, TÜRKIYE, 30 Ekim - 1 Kasım 2013, vol.2, no.1, pp Kahraman,C.: 2002 Haliç Çevresinin Turizm Coğrafyası, İ.Ü Sos. Bil. Enst. Yüksek 281

8 Evaluation of Istanbul Port in Cruise Tourism in Terms of Brand Value Alkan et al. Lisans Tezi. Manning, Ted, Managing Cruise Ship Impacts: Guidelines for Current and Potential Destination Communities MSC Cruise Lines, 2015 Cruise tours, 2015, Access date, , Online Edition, /index.php/gemi-programlari/2015- istanbul-izmir-cikisli-turlar, Punjaisri, Khanyapuss and Heiner Evanschitzky Aligning Employee Service Recovery Performance with Brand Values: The role of Brandspecific Leadership, Journal of Marketing Management, 2013, Vol. 29, Nos. 9 10, Rego, Lopo L.; Matthew T. Billett, & Neil A. Morgan Consumer-Based Brand Equity and Firm Risk Journal of Marketing Vol. 73, November 2009, Republic of Turkey Prime Ministry Privatization Administration Privatization of Istanbul Salıpazarı Cruise Port A Brief Overview, 2013, Access date, , Online Edition, _Pazari/istabul_sali_pazari_Tanitim_D okumani_eng.pdf Stahl, Florian, Mark Heitmann and Donald R. Lehmann, & Scott A. Neslin, The Impact of Brand Equity on Customer Acquisition, Retention, and Profit Margin, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 76, July 2012, Statista 2015, Cruise Market Watch, Access date, , Online Edition, /revenue-of-the-cruise-lineindustry-worldwide-since-2008/ The Association of Mediterranean Cruise Ports, MedCruise 2015/2016 Yearbook, 2015 Access Date, , Online Edition /medcruise_yearbook_15- TUIK, 2015 İstanbul population, metod=temelist, Access date, , Online Edition, Wallace, Elaine; Isabel Buil and Leslie de Chernatony Brand Orientation and Brand Values in Retail Banking, Journal of Marketing Management, 2013, Vol. 29, Nos. 9 10, Yazıcı, Şişman, Economic, Environmental and Social Aspects of Cruise Tourism and Facts of Turkish Cruise Sector, 2014, Access date, , Online Edition 5/puertos/harun_sismanyazici_turkish _chamber_of_shipping.pdf 282

9 Int. j. oper. logist. manag. p-issn: ; e-issn: Volume: 4, Issue: 4, Pages: APPENDIX Table: 1 General Characteristics of Istanbul Port General Characteristics of Istanbul Port Draught: up to 8.6 mts (Salipazari Pier ), up to 6.4 mtr (Karakoy pier ) Quays 8 total length of meter Passenger Capacity (year) Vessel Capacity 3950 Terminals Services 2 passenger terminals (luggage +passenger operation) Anchorage, Tugs, city shuttle, security, shelter, mooring, fresh water services, luggage handling and stevedoring Source: IMEAK Chamber of Commerce, 2011 Table 2. Main Istanbul Calling Cruise Routes Routes Ports of Call Cruise Operators Travel Time North European Copenhagen, Denmark, Kiel, MSC Cruise Lines, Cruise Routes Stockholm, Sweden, Tallinn, Norwegian Air Lines Estonia, St. Petersburg and Russia. Royal Caribbean Aegean and Istanbul, Mykonos, Piraeus, Louis Lines 11 days Mediterranean Route Messina, Corsica, Marseille, Genoa, Katakolon, and Santorini and Istanbul Mediterranean Route Istanbul, Barcelona, Cannes, Louis Lines Florence (Livorno), Rome (Civitavecchia), Mediterranean Route Istanbul, Mykonos, Ashdod Port Said, Alexandria, Crete and Athens. Louis Lines 8 days Aegean and Adriatic Route Aegean, Mediterranean and Black Sea Route Istanbul, Dubrovnik, Croatia, Greece and Venice. Genoa, Civitavecchia, Piraeus, Yalta, Odessa, Istanbul, Messina and Sorento, Transatlantic Istanbul, Dubrovnik, Venice, Brindisi, Messina, Valletta, Malaga, Las Palmas de G.Kanary, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Fortaleza-Brazil MSC Cruise Lines MSC Cruise Lines MSC Cruise Lines 7 days 12days 24 days Source: MSC Cruise lines, Louis Lines and Norwegian Air lines websites based data 283

10 Tourist Numbers Evaluation of Istanbul Port in Cruise Tourism in Terms of Brand Value Alkan et al. North America Worldwide Total Years Figure 1: Number of Cruise Passenger between ( ) Number of Passenger Source: Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication, 2015 Figure 2: Number of Transit Passengers Coming to Istanbul Port by Cruise Ships (Between years) 284

11 Int. j. oper. logist. manag. p-issn: ; e-issn: Volume: 4, Issue: 4, Pages: Number of Vessel Source: Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication, 2015 Figure 3: Number of Vessels Calling to Istanbul Port by Cruise Ships (Between years) 285 View publication stats