ABSTRACT
It is crucial to gain new customers when customers are lost. However, gaining new customers is an expensive process involving advertising, promotion, sales costs as well as start-up operating expenses. In addition to this, it is difficult for businesses to earn profit for a period of time after gaining new customers (Zeithaml et al. 1996). Research suggests that retention of the current customer is cheaper than finding new ones. When taking into account that the cruise industry has a large proportion of new customers in its customer profile, it is important to better understand variables associated with visitor retention (Petrick et al. 2006). Teye and Leclerc (2003) emphasized that cruises gave an opportunity for initial discovery of a destination allowing passengers to return for a longer visit and further, more in-depth cultural discovery.
