Affiliation:
1. Surigao Del Norte State University, Surigao City, Philippines
Abstract
Siargao Island is one of the world-class and most popular tourist destinations in the Philippines. The island is still in its developmental stage in terms of the tourism industry, which oftentimes face difficulties on its maritime travel services because of inefficiencies on manual ticketing and booking processes. With this, the study aimed at investigating the current services offered by the small-scale local maritime providers. A mixed-methodology approach was employed in the study through online survey and interviews to gather data on respondents’ preferences, challenges, and recommendations. The respondents were selected by convenience sampling method. The gathered data were analyzed using frequency distribution, weighted mean score, standard deviation, and ranking. The findings revealed significant results such as thechallenges related to labour-intensive ticketing processes and lack of real-time information are identified, suggesting the need for digital solutions. There is also a high demand for improved travel services, with preferences for online booking, real-time scheduling, and user-friendly interfaces. The study contributes to the development of a web application by providing insights into passenger preferences and challenges, guiding the design and implementation of a system that enhances maritime travel services in Siargao Island