Determinants of cruise passengers’ expenditures in the port of call

Abstract

Cruise tourism generates different types of cruise consumption and related indirect, direct and induced expenditure effects, in homeports as well as in ports of call. Cruise passengers’ expenditures produce positive economic effects for destinations, from increasing the incomes and employment, to tax incomes, duties, etc. Therefore, it is no doubt that cruise stakeholders and local economies can benefit from increased cruise passenger consumption. To stimulate higher consumption and passengers’ satisfaction, it is necessary to design the supportive policy framework and build appropriate quality of products and services. Identifying influential variables of cruise passengers’ expenditures in this sense enables the design of appropriate policies and measures. In the current research, based on a survey of 357 cruise passengers, several variables included in a new theoretical model of the expenditures determinants, such as gender, nationality, frequency of cruising and frequency of visits, were found to be statistically significantly associated with cruise passengers’ expenditures. Several conclusions and suggestions to stimulate cruise passenger expenditures based on research findings are provided.