engleski

Enhancing cruise tourism competitiveness

The worldwide cruise industry is growing in scale and importance. Ports offer and realize a significant contribution to the economic development of a destination. Successful cruise destinations, both homeport and destination port, have some basic features in common. The success of a cruise port must be based on the association of various factors such as the city, the port, the airport, local entities, tourism operators and other secondary factors. Recognizing the importance of cruise tourism is no longer sufficient to increase the cruise business and exploit existing business opportunities. A strong cooperation between different authorities is increasingly becoming a necessity in order to achieve competitive advantages over the ever-increasing number of new cruise ports. In that sense, the constitution of local cruise associations – Cruise Clubs – may be very helpful. Consequently, ports help themselves to realize the full potential of cruise business. An issue regarding both ship and passenger congestion has arisen. In order to overcome the problem, the emphasis must be placed upon the extension of the cruise season, particularly longer summer season and more winter cruising. The paper analyses the case study of the Port of Dubrovnik as the leading Croatian cruise port in the context of the cruise market and the issues emerging within this sector. The constitution of the Dubrovnik Cruise Club is proposed and discussed.

cruise tourism; competitiveness; port congestion; cruise product development; cruise club

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