Self-organised cruiser’s expenditures in a port of call: the interaction effect between city interface satisfaction and super-sized ships

This paper aims to provide a better understanding of self-organised cruiser’s expenditures, analysing the effect of city interface satisfaction (CIS) on total monetary impact on land (TMIoL) for cruisers travelling without touristic guide and investigating the size of cruise ships, such as those labelled super-sized ships (SSSh), as a moderator variable.

The study was conducted through an interview-based semi-structured questionnaire administered to 812 self-organised cruisers visiting one of main ports of call in the Mediterranean region.

The findings highlight that CIS positively influences TMIoL; the relationship is moderated by SSSh; age, cruise experience and time on land are confirmed to be critical predictors of cruiser’s expenditures in the tourism destination.

The increase in cruiser flows and vessel sizes has a significant economic and non-economic impact on cruise destinations. More players are involved in the value creation process and its sharing, such as port destinations, local governments and cruise liners. Value measurement and knowledge of its determinants (e.g. port facilities, destination attractiveness, cruiser satisfaction and experiences) are essential, in terms of competitiveness, for practitioner’s decision-making processes and scholars interested in analysing the cruise phenomenon. This paper contributes to the existing literature as it provides results concerning value creation that is not managed by any one single player, such as cruise companies, port destination or local government. Such knowledge can be useful above all for local governments because self-organised cruisers visit the city destination not as cruise tourists but as land tourists.