Cruise tourism effects on the mediterranean islands' economies

Abstract

Precedent studies show that cruises are able to generate daily visitors distributing additional expenditure for tourist destinations, giving new possibilities to support existing and future local economic activities. For Mediterranean islands, particularly related to this kind of tourism, the economic effects of cruise tourism seem to be different if compared with other territories, here defined as mainland. The aim of this paper is to analyze the effects of cruise tourism in the Mediterranean ports of call for insular and non insular territories. By focusing on Daily Cruise Visitors behaviour and by analyzing the passengers spending patterns in this work, we evaluated the economic effects of cruise tourism considering two categories: excursion buyers and independent passengers. Results show that the cruise stops in the Mediterranean islands port of call are relevant in terms of passenger flows. We can argue that islands are considered attractive stops along the itineraries. We surveyed that cruise daily visitors prefer to be independent during the stop, looking for a real experience in the island, organizing the visit on their own, searching and purchasing goods and services from local suppliers. Islands, if some conditions are respected, could be able to profit from the economic impact deriving from cruise tourism.