Perceptions of service quality in North Cyprus hotels

Purpose Defining and measuring quality service is of importance to providers of hotel services. This study aims to diagnose the applicability of the perceived service quality measurement scale to European customers in a new emerging market which is North Cyprus – because tourism industry in Cyprus has been significantly influenced owing to political instability of the island since 1963 and the year 2004 has been of great importance owing to the 24 April referendum for a peace solution between South and North on the island Cyprus. Design/methodology/approach The sample of the study consists of the European tourists visiting Northern Cyprus hotels. Non‐probability convenience sampling technique is used to collect the data of survey instruments adopted from Parasuraman et al. SPSS 10.0 for windows was employed for the scale measurement. Descriptive analysis such as means, standard deviation and frequencies are calculated. Regression analysis was employed to observe the causal effect of independent variables to customer satisfaction. Reliability issues are tested and dimensionality of the scale is confirmed through an exploratory factor analysis. Findings Interestingly, the number of European tourists' arrivals has dramatically increased since the referendum. Apart from assessing the reliability and validity of the perceived service quality measurement scale, the results indicate that the nature of perceived service quality measurement instrument is found to two dimension tangibles and intangibles have for North Cyprus hotel services. The results reveal that tangibles and intangibles exert a significant positive effect on customer satisfaction, and European customers visiting North Cyprus are demanding improved service quality. Research limitations/implications This research has certain limitations: first, the sample in this study is small and is limited to a relatively specific group of tourists (European nationalities) who stayed in North Cyprus hotels. Second, measurement of customer satisfaction was carried out using a single‐item scale and thus it was not possible to estimate its reliability. Originality/value The year 2004 has been great importance owing to the 24 April referendum for peace between South and North Cyprus. This study provides reflections of political sensitivity on North Cyprus hotel service quality; North Cyprus is both an island and a virgin market in the Mediterranean where quality of hotels is a significant strategic issue for increasing the competitiveness of the Mediterranean islands in the European tourism market. The study explores service quality in terms of the perceived service quality in the hospitality industry and help practitioners with the real concept of service quality. The results and implications of the future research are discussed in detail.