Diver satisfaction with scuba diving in Tioman Island from perspective of operator services

Abstract

Scuba diving has experienced a gradual increase in its demand globally. This phenomenon has also affected the Tioman Islands, which was one of the most popular dive destinations in Malaysia. Although the tourism sector has seen bloomed in Tioman, the local dive industry was remaining stagnant in its performance with a continued decrease in the number of tourist arrival for diving activities since 2016. Dive operator service performance was seen as a strong motivation for dive destination selection that ought to be improved to ensure divers satisfaction and a continuous visit to the destination. However, most of the existing literature has paid little attention to diver perception toward dive operator service performance and most of the previous researcher tends to concern on environmental issues instead of managerial ones. Therefore, this study focuses to understand the divers' satisfaction towards the operator in Tioman Islands from service provider perspectives. A total of 133 divers participate in the survey of this study, using the questionnaire as the main data collection tool. Respondents consist of scuba divers who are mostly intermediate and international divers express their perception of dive operator service performance. Evaluation of dive operator service performance shows that attributes such as staff, safety, dive site, and boat are among those that satisfied by divers. This is mainly due to the professionalism of the staff at the dive site as a willingness to assist scuba diver all times. The finding also indicated that the most important attributes that contribute towards diver satisfaction were safety, price and rental equipment. Despite moderate satisfaction by the diver, these attributes give a significant impact on the dive consumption experience. Hence, the dive operator needs to take the improvement of these attributes into consideration when managing the scuba diving business. This study offers a recommendation for dive operators or other key stakeholders to take into account that related to diver perception in-service operators so that the dive experience can be improved and scuba diving tourism in Tioman achieved a high level of diver satisfaction. Acknowledging the perception of dive operator service performance helps in understanding the influence of dive operator service performance on diving satisfaction. Acquiring the information assist dive operator in promoting accurate services in order to promote higher diver satisfaction during their dive trip.