Cruise Tourism is one of the major growth areas of world tourism Peisley, 1992; Hobson, 1993; Cruise Lines International Association, 1995. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit:
There seems little doubt that, by the turn of the century, cruising will be firmly established as one of the world’s major tourism industries with significant markets in North America, the UK, Europe and Asia. The total number of annual passengers will have reached 8 million plus –
Cruising is the fastest-growing sector of the international holiday scene (The Passenger Shipping Association, 2003). Cruise tourism can be defined as the use of ships for pleasure cruising and not merely for transportation (UNWTO, 1997). Ocean and coastal cruise tourism is unique in the manner in which it provides a combination of transportation, accommodation, entertainment, retail and destination services. Cruise liners can be regarded as floating resort facilities, which have the major advantage of seasonal repositioning.
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From its predominantly Caribbean base, cruise tourism has spread across the world, increasing ports of call in all regions. As well as this, river and canal cruising has grown rapidly, particularly in Europe and China. The cruise industry is growing, expanding and accessing new markets by, in part, bringing into reach a diversity of popular and successful destinations that are new for cruise tourism, by exploiting previously under-utilised ports (Younger, 2003).
2.1.1 The cruise industry
The growth of the cruise market throughout the world, and perhaps more notably in the United Kingdom (UK) has been one of the most remarkable phenomena of the 1990s (Wild & Dearing, 2000). The cruise industry is the fastest growing segment of the travel industry – achieving more than 2,100 percent growth since 1970, when an estimated 500,000 people took a cruise. Industry estimates are that 13.5 million people took a cruise vacation in 2009, with a total of 14.3 million passengers forecasted to sail in 2010. (Cruise Lines International Association [CLIA], 2010).
In early 2001, 64 new and larger capacity ships were in production, expanding passenger capacities by 35%. More than 50% of these ships are dedicated to the United States tourism market and are now operating throughout the Caribbean (Sparrow, 2004). The cruise industry’s growth is also reflected in its expanding guest capacity. Nearly 40 new ships were built in the 1980s and during the 1990s, nearly 80 new ships debuted. By the end of 2009, over 100 new ships were introduced since 2000, with 12 new vessels on the way for 2010. (CLIA, 2010)
These new vessels carry more passengers, more crew, generate more waste and consume more goods and services.
2.2 Theoretical Framework
According to Weaver and Oppermann (2000), tourism is a complex phenomenon involving many actors and interactive factors. Some of the actors are tourists, tour operators, cruise lines and airlines. To be able to understand the complicated nature of the tourism industry, a system based approach is suitable. Leiper’s tourism model can be used as the theoretical framework as it views tourism as a form of a system in which there is an operational structure built up of interacting components. Leiper who was an early supporter of the adoption of a systems approach towards understanding tourism defined tourism as:
. . . the system involving the discretionary travel and temporary stay of persons away from their
usual place of residence for one or more nights, excepting tours made for the primary purpose
of earning remuneration from points en route. The elements of the system are tourists, generating
regions, transit routes, destination regions and a tourist industry. These five elements are
arranged in spatial and functional connections. Having the characteristics of an open system,
the organisation of five elements operates within broader environments: physical, cultural,
social, economic, political, technological with which it interacts.
The components of the tourism system are shown in the model below (fig 1.1). This whole tourism system approach helps to organise our knowledge about tourism and its relationship with cruises. Leiper’s approach was to try and understand destinations, generating areas, transit zones, the environment and flows within the context of a wider tourism system rather than seeing them as separate independent entities.
In the model there are three interactive components: (i) the tourism generating region, (ii) the destination region and (iii) transit routes which link the two regions. It is evident that transport forms an integral part of the tourism system by linking the tourist generating and destination regions together. Collier (1994) classifies tourism transport on several bases (e.g. public or private sector transport, water/land/air transport; domestic and international transport and mode of transport). Cruise tourism is considered as a system in which cruisers and operators are major actors. The tourism-generating region and the destination region are linked together through cruising which is also a tourism product. This makes cruise ships a unique form of tourism transport. People go on a “cruise” more than they go to a place. And yet their major competition is not other forms of transport but real places. As Morrison et al. (1996: 15) put it:
Instead of competing with the airlines, the cruise lines have become their
partners and now compete with destinations, resorts, and other vacation
alternatives. The cruise ship itself has become a floating resort providing the
maximum possible leisure and entertainment facilities.
However Leiper’s model has been criticized for being simplistic (Prosser, 1998). Prosser provided a more detailed model that, he claimed, represents more effectively the inner complexities of the tourism environment.
2.3 SWOT analysis for Mauritius
SWOT is an acronym where the letters stand for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It is a commonly used analytical tool in business environments that has become firmly established in the literature of strategic management (Evans, et al. 2003). A SWOT analysis is a useful way of assessing the situation that a destination faces in its effort to develop cruise tourism.
. According to Weihrich (1982), the SWOT analysis is the process of analysing organisations and their environments based on their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This includes the environmental analysis, the process of scanning the business environment for threats and opportunities, which is considered as external factors, and the organisational analysis, the process of analysing a firm’s strengths and weaknesses as internal factors.
Internal factors
Strengths
Weaknesses
A strategically located port in the Indian Ocean
Capacity and Infrastructure constraints- too few berths
Safe and wonderful tourism destination
Cyclonic period during the months of November to May
Pleasant climate practically whole year round
Nautical constraints- For many big cruise vessels at the same time
Variety of land-based and water-based attractions
Poor maintenance of beaches and attractions
A great variety of cultures
Low awareness in the market about cruise tourism in Mauritius
Relatively good basic structures(hospitals, roads) and a good transport system
Mauritius considered as an expensive destination and not within the reach of many
World class quality services by Tour Operators, Hotels, Restaurants, and Travel Agents.
Poor service at the port and untrained staff
Minimum formalities on arrival of cruise vessels
Poor road links to certain location and place of interest
Lack of industry cohesion
No strategic plan at MPA and MOT level
External Factors
Opportunities
Threats
Estimated two million tourists by the year 2015
Seasonality of the industry
Brand name- ‘Ile Maurice un plaisir’
Threats by terrorists and Somalian Pirates
The cruise market Potential is strong for Regional/ International growth
Competition from other exotic tourism destinations
Improvement of physical infrastructure including adequate parking facilities at places of interest and other recreational areas
Likely increase in oil prices affecting cost of travel
Political stability of market of origin
Economic uncertainty- late bookings and close-to-home cruises to avoid expense on flying
Air network expansion facilitating Fly-cruise concept
Strong growth of European demand (German, French and Spanish markets)
2.4 Sustainable development issues of cruise tourism:
Although a relatively new phenomenon, tourism has become one of the world’s largest industries in recent years. According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO, 2004), “sustainable tourism development meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future”. In 2008, International tourism arrival reached there were 922 million worldwide, with a growth of 1.9% as compared to 2007. (WTO)
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Given its total significance, it is not surprising that the tourism industry has a substantial environmental impact. In particular, tourism development is associated with environmental problems like deforestation, soil or beach erosion, and coral ecosystem destruction. Since tourism development also tends to result in rapid urbanization, it can contribute to such problems as increased air and water pollution, as well as inadequate solid waste management (Baver and Lynch 2006, 5). The scale and gravity of these impacts tend to be amplified in the Caribbean, where the environment comprises some of the most fragile ecosystems on earth, including beaches, coral reefs, and tropical forests (Lynch 2006, 158).
‘When sustainable tourism has been applied to the industry, more emphasis has been given to tourism’s effects upon the environment and economy, rather than to factors related to its effect on communities’ (Hardy et al, 2002: 491)
Cruise tourism is currently going through a period of revival with new vessels being launched and sailing to ever more exotic places.
Criticisms
Hunter (1997) argues that different interpretations of sustainable tourism are appropriate urder different circumstances. The study of sustainable tourism should not be a rigid framework, but an ‘adaptive paradigm which legitimizes a variety of approaches according to specific circtimstances’ (Htinter, 1997: 851).
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