Evaluation of cruise tourism economic sustainability. A methodological approach within the Spanish Mediterranean littora

Abstract

Cruise tourism is a powerful development agent on the destinations where it is present. It has been largely studied from the customer behaviour point of view. Moreover, its environmental and social sustainability dimensions have been deeply analysed by the literature. However, in spite of a growing number of researches related to its economic impact, no robust conclusion about its economic effect onto destinations has been reached so far. In this work we examine the economic impact of cruise tourism in four different Spanish Mediterranean destinations. For that we use data from EGATUR statistics and financial data from tourism companies in each destination considered. After running curvilinear multivariable techniques, we stablished a correlation between the cruise traffic and the economic profitability of those enterprises within its scope. Moreover, despite we found no significant correlation with finantial profitability, we also found evidence of significant connection between cruise traffic and the employment level of touristic firms affected.