Expanding our understanding of cruise visitors' expenditure at destinations: The role of spatial patterns, onshore visit choice and cruise category

Cruise tourism is an important and growing source of visitors to destinations. To expand our knowledge of this phenomenon, this study incorporates three new drivers into the analysis of the expenditure patterns of cruise passengers at destinations, namely, spatial intra-destination behavior (single node, multiple node, or hinterland), onshore visit choice (independent or guided), and cruise category (standard, premium, luxury, or exclusive). The study uses quantile regression to unearth the intricacies of the proposed relationships and a dataset that combines GPS tracking technologies and traditional surveys. Results suggest that the mobility pattern, onshore visit choice, and time spent at a destination of cruise visitors have significant effects on their expenditures. However, these effects vary along with the level of expenditure, whereas cruise category does not exert a clear effect on expenditure. The implications for destination management organizations are also discussed.Research carried out within the project “Analysis of planning processes applied to smart cities and smart tourism destinations. Balance and methodological proposal for tourist spaces: Smart Tourism Planning” (CSO2017-82592-R) under the Spanish National R&D&I Plan funded by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness/[UAFPU2016-014]