Effects of post-pandemic perceived safety and security and service quality on ferry service’s image, satisfaction, and loyalty

Abstract

Ferry services are crucial in transporting passengers to many tourism Islands. However, poor quality services and safety issues are the leading issues among water transportation businesses (Cheunkamon et al., 2022; Nguyen-Phuoc et al., 2021; Rather & Camilleri, 2019; Sumaedi et al., 2014). Moreover, even though water transportation is a vital element of the Island’s sustainability (Efthymiou & Papatheodorou, 2015), there has been a lack of studies investigating ferry services’ perceived safety and security, and service quality, especially in less developed countries (Van Lierop et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2019). With the opening of social activities post-pandemic, there is a sudden increase in demand for water transportation services among travellers (Ayub et al., 2018). Abukhalifeh and Chandran (2020) state that passenger ships in operation today are subject to additional COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs). Such strict SOPs could significantly affect usage intention and satisfaction (Friman et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2019). This would eventually affect customers’ experience and substantially impact their future behaviour. This short research allows ferry operators to understand better how passengers perceive the ferry service quality and safety and security, especially during the post-pandemic realm. With such understanding, they can re-strategise their offerings and improve their services to meet the need and expectations of the passenger. The study findings also contributed to the literature on water transportation services by empirically integrating the factors affecting the image of ferry services and satisfaction among post-pandemic travellers.