Attitudes of Citizens of Split and the Profession towards the Impact of Cruise Tourism on the Area of Split

TURIZAM Volume 20, Issue 1 12–22 (2016) ORIGINAL SCIENTIFIC PAPER Attitudes of Citizens of Split and the Profession towards the Impact of Cruise Tourism on the Area of Split Helena Ćosić, Srećko Favro* Received: July 2015 | Accepted: December 2015 Abstract Cruise tourism is a phenomenon that has rapidly developed in a very short period of time. Every year, larger and larger cruisers with the possibility to accept up to 6,000 passengers are built. Arrival of a large number of passengers and mega-ships can have a dramatic impact on the visited port, the place and the population. There are three impacts of cruise tourism: the impact on society, economic impact and environmental impact. This form of tourism has a positive and negative impact on coastal and island tourist destinations. Economic effects are undoubtedly significant and contribute to the economic development of the region and the country. Revenues generated by this sector vary from country to country, depending on the inclusion of participants of operational and public sectors in various activities of this industry. However, negative effects on the image of the destination, on sojourns of stationary tourists, on the life of the local residents and the environment must not be ignored. In this paper, the attention is paid to the impact of cruise tourism, and attitudes of local people and professionals towards the impact of cruise tourism on the city of Split. Key words: cruise tourism, the impact of cruise tourism, attitudes of citizens and the profession in Split Introduction In the last two decades, the development of cruise tourism in the world is impressive. In 2013, the total number of passengers on cruise ships is estimated at about 21.3 million, as compared to 1995 indicates an increase in demand of about 3.5 times. Although cruises make up less than 2% of the global tourism market, they are more and more present in the world. The demand for this specific form of tourism offer grows almost twice as fast as the number of international arrivals, and, according to forecasts, every year it will grow as the part of the world, European and Mediterranean tourism (Peručić, 2013). Today, there are approximately 300 cruisers cruising worldwide, and their most popular destinations are the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Alaska, Mexico, and the rest of Europe. * University of Split, Faculty of Economics, 21000 Split, Croatia, Corresponding author: 12 Helena Ćosić, Srećko Favro The Adriatic Sea is also becoming an important area of interest, with the ports of Venice, Dubrovnik, Split and Bari. In the last few years, Split has a great increase in arrivals of cruisers which can cause major problems with the acceptance of ships and passengers, and can have negative impacts on the environment and on local residents. Most of the research related to the development of cruise tourism in Europe take into account economic impact and the impact on the environment,such as: Contribution of Cruise Tourism to the Economies of Europe – annual report commissioned by the European Cruise Council (European Cruise Council, 2013), Tourist facilities in ports, Enhancing sustainable growth of cruise tourism in Europe (Policy Research Corporation, 2009), TOMAS Brodska kružna putovanja 2006. - Stavovi i potrošnja turista na brodskim kružnim putovanjima (Institut za turizam), Direct pollution cost assessment of cruising tourism in Croatian Adriatic (Caric, 2010), Čimbenici štetnog djelovanja cruising-turizma na brodski okoliš (Šantić, L. i dr., 2011), etc, while less attention is paid to the social impact of cruise tourism in the tourist destination. There are only two studies in Croatia relating to the attitudes of the local population on the cruise tourism and its future development, and those are ˝The attitudes of citizen of Dubrovnik towards the impact of cruise tourism on Dubrovnik˝(Peručić, D., Puh, B., 2012) and a survey conducted by the Institute of Tourism in 2006 as part of the ˝Study of sustainable development of cruise tourism in Croatia˝. Both studies were conducted in Dubrovnik as a leading port of cruise tourism in Croatia. Cruise Tourism Worldwide Global cruise industry cruise generated revenues of 36.27 billion dollars in 2013. The number of passengers on cruisers has increased compared to the year 2012 and is expected to exceed 24 million in 2018. The average passenger on a cruise generates the revenue of 1.728 dollars, and the average income was $ 185 in 2013. Cruise industry has been growing dynamically for the last 30 years, initially triggered by demand from North America, followed by the growing demand from Europe and recently from Oceania. Table 1. International demand for cruises, 2003-2013 (Millions of passengers) Region 2003 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Ten-years growth North America 8.23 10.29 10.40 11.00 11.44 11.64 11.82 43.6% Europe 2.71 4.47 5.04 5.67 6.15 6.23 6.40 136.2% Total 10.94 14.76 15.44 16.67 17.59 17.87 18.22 66.5% The rest of the world 1.08 1.54 2.15 2.40 2.91 3.03 3.09 186.1% Total 12.02 16.30 17.59 19.07 20.50 20.90 21.31 77.3% Source: CLIA (2014)The Global Economic Contribution of Cruise Tourism 2013 Table 1 indicates the international growth of the cruise sector in the period between 2003 and 2013. Since 2003, the number of passengers originating from North America has increased by 44%, and the region remains the dominant source on the market. At the same time, with strong global growth appeared new emissive and receptive markets. The share of North America in the world cruise market increased by 55.5 % in 2013 as new markets arose. At the same time, the share of Europe increased from 22.5 % in 2003 to 30.0% in 2013, while the share of the rest of the world increased from 9.0% to 14.5 % in the period of 10 years (CLIA, 2014). TURIZAM | Volume 20, Issue 1, 12–22 (2016) 13 Attitudes of Citizens of Split and the Profession towards the Impact of Cruise Tourism on the Area of Split Therefore, the cruise industry is a global industry with passengers originating from all over the world and with itineraries designed for countries and ports all over the world. It is also a dynamic industry with total global growth rates higher than the mainland tourism in the past ten years. The dynamics can also be seen on the geographical distribution of growth that has been moved from North America to Europe and now Oceania (CLIA, 2014). Cruise Tourism in Croatia Twenty ports/destinations take part in the international cruise tourism in Croatia. Most of these ports/destinations have only symbolic and occasional traffic, visited mostly by small, luxurious vessels. The main cruise ports are Dubrovnik and Split, followed by Korčula and Zadar, which are visited by ships with more than thousand passengers. Table 2. The number of calls to a given port and the number of passengers per city, 2007-2013 SPLIT Year DUBROVNIK ZADAR KORČULA Number of calls (...truncated)