The sustainability of cruise tourism onshore: the impact of crowding on visitors’ satisfaction

The sustainability of cruise tourism has been questioned in relation to its negative effects on ports of call, among which crowding has recently become more pronounced. However, an understanding of how crowdedness influences cruise tourists’ experience onshore is lacking. The study analyzed online reviews on onshore experiences in the main European ports of call through Leximancer, an automated text analytics software. The results revealed that the perceived destination crowding was not always negatively evaluated by tourists, but was also discussed as a factor adding up to the authenticity of the visit under certain circumstances. Nevertheless, the evidence indicates that only human crowding might be positively assessed, while the spatial crowdedness was always reported as detracting from the enjoyment of the visit. The analysis also showed that the crowding phenomenon was represented differently in the accounts of the low, average and high satisfaction cruise tourists’ groups. The role of the guide, as well as the attractiveness of the sightseeing were identified as factors that can ameliorate the negative effect of crowding on the destination visit. The findings yield relevant implications for all actors involved in the cruise tourism activity, which should manage destination crowdedness in a more sustainably innovative way