Critical Factors of the Maritime Yachting Tourism Experience: An Impact-Asymmetry Analysis of Principal Components

Abstract

As the first study to explore key drivers of the maritime yachting tourism experience, this study applies principal component analysis (PCA) and impact-asymmetry analysis (IAA) to the context of Croatian nautical tourism. The data used in this article were collected as part of the TOMAS Nautica Yachting study, an institutional study on attitudes and expenditures of yachtsmen in Croatia. Overall, the study encompassed 2171 tourists who were interviewed during the 2012 tourism season. The analysis revealed a five-dimensional structure of the yachting tourism experience, with three dimensions having an asymmetrical impact on tourists' global judgment of their yachting experience. It is noteworthy that the onshore destination experience emerged as the factor to have the largest potential to impact tourists' overall experience. This is despite the fact that the attributes underlying this dimension are not directly related to the yachtsman's primary travel motive – namely sailing.