The evolution and relative competitiveness of global Arctic cruise tourism destinations

Abstract

Traveling and vacationing onboard a cruise ships has become one of the most popular forms of tourism over the past few decades (CLIA 2018). A 2018 Passenger snapshot prepared by the Cruise Line International Associations (CLIA) outlined the continually increasing number of passengers in the last 10 years (CLIA, 2018). For example, the survey found that there were more than 450 cruise ships in 2017 and 2018 that carried more than 27 million passengers and that this number had increased from just 17,8 million passengers in 2009 (Ibid.). The increase in cruises internationally reflects global trends in globalization, infrastructure development including deep-water ports that can accommodate larger vessels where the economy of scale enables more affordable cruise options, and overall improvements to global transportation infrastructure related to increasingly well-connected airports, ferries and rail and roadways. Historically speaking, the cruise tourism industry is oriented toward the North American market, but in recent years there has been more and more cruise ship activities in Europe, in the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas, as well as in South America, the Caribbean and in emerging markets such as South-East Asia and China.