ODYBOAT Cruise Flow
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Spending and impact Peer-reviewed journal

Stops and spending of cruise visitors in Copenhagen

Cruise visitors' self-reported spending depends more on how they visit than on who they are: making at least one stop of over 40 minutes is linked to much higher odds of spending.

Tracking cruise passengers' consumption: An analysis of the relationships between onshore mobility and expenditure — Sciortino, C.; Ferrante, M.; De Cantis, S. et al. · Annals of Tourism Research Empirical Insights 3 (2022) 100059 (Elsevier)

WhereCopenhagen
Year2022
SourceAnnals of Tourism Research Empirical Insights 3 (2022) 100059 (Elsevier)
Strength of methodHigh

The question

How do the characteristics of the shore visit (duration, distance covered, stops, use of transport) explain whether and how much transit cruise passengers spend, compared with socio-demographic characteristics?

The method

Pre- and post-visit questionnaires combined with GPS loggers (one point every 10 seconds) handed to about one passenger in 20 at Langelinie quay, in autumn 2018 and summer 2019; 183 valid cases. Stop detection (speed-duration algorithm), chi-square tests and two logistic regression models (spends/does not spend; high/low spending with a €50 threshold).

What the study finds

€56average spend ashore per cruise passengerInterviewed passengers spend an average of €56 each ashore, but the median is only around €28, because 22% spend nothing.
5.9%of onshore spending going on transportShop purchases (about 35%) and food and drink (about 32%) together make up two thirds of spending; only 5.9% goes on transport, which the authors link to the central location of the quay and how easy the city is to explore on foot.
≈ 12 kmaverage GPS-recorded route lengthOn average the visit lasts about four hours and the GPS-recorded route measures about 12 km, yet three in four passengers stay within about 3 km of the port.
≈ 87%of respondents visit without an organised excursionNearly nine in ten respondents (about 87%) visited the city on their own, without having bought an organised excursion.
  • Personal characteristics (age, education, income) show no significant association with the decision to spend, whereas visit behaviour does: making at least one stop longer than 40 minutes is linked to odds of spending about 17 times higher than making only short stops.
  • Among those who spend, having made a stop of over 40 minutes is associated with roughly 2.6 times higher odds of spending more than €50, compared with those making only shorter stops.
  • Non-spenders stay around the quay, among nearby free attractions, and pause only briefly: just a third of their stops (33%) last more than 10 minutes, against about 54% of the stops made by the highest spenders.
Why it matters for ports and cities

The study indicates that in Copenhagen cruise visitors' spending is tied mainly to how long they stop and how far they go from the quay, rather than to who they are. For ports and cities this suggests investing in wayfinding, a varied offer and bookable activities that lengthen stops and carry spending beyond the busiest areas.

Limitations

Small sample (183) collected in two periods in a single city; spending is self-reported, the place of a stop cannot be linked to the type of purchase, and no causal link between stops and spending can be established.

Full reference and source

Sciortino, C., Ferrante, M., De Cantis, S., Gyimóthy, S. (2022). Tracking cruise passengers' consumption: An analysis of the relationships between onshore mobility and expenditure. Annals of Tourism Research Empirical Insights 3 (2022) 100059 (Elsevier).

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Summary written by the ODYBOAT Observatory in our own words. Tables and figures belong to the authors.