Assessing impact of cruising tourism in Slovenia

Abstract

This paper aims at presenting cruise tourism in Slovenia. Slovenia has a small coastal strip (46 km), which is the reason why there are only a limited number of ports. The only passenger terminal for large cruise ships is located in the Port of Koper. Cruise tourism started in Slovenia in 2015. Since the beginning, the number of cruise ships has grown substantially. The aim of the study is to investigate the impacts of cruise tourism in the city of Koper, as perceived by local tourism stakeholders. The results have shown that there is still a strong support to develop this sector of tourism.

Attitudes of the Local Population and Business Stakeholders on the Impact of Cruise Tourism on Destination

“…The perceptions of both local stakeholders and residents, also considering their relationship to the impact of any proposed tourism development model, should be considered when planning the future development of a cruise tourism destination [8If stakeholders support the development of tourism, then they will support investments and projects, will more easily tolerate harmful eff ects and will better accept guests to make them more satisfi ed [22]. Uran Maravic et al [24] recommend the development of a detailed methodology for local communities to monitor the eff ects of cruise tourism at their local destination. All entities are obligated to adjust their businesses and operate as partners, including cluster creation, in order to enhance positive and reduce negative consequences [5].…”

Government and business community attitudes towards cruise tourism development

“…Consequently, no wonder this conception has been widely accepted in tourism management literature as different stakeholders are involved in destination management, planning and marketing, while the issue of collaboration is seen as a crucial for destination competitiveness (D'Angella & Go, 2009). In other words, tourism authorities need to consider all stakeholders involved in their unique business ecosystem to foster their cooperation for a successful destination development (Todd et al, 2017;Uran & Zirdum, 2017). Furthermore, Social exchange theory, which is used to explain the perceptions of the economic, socio-cultural and environemental values and costs in the guest/host exchange (Brida et al, 2011;Petrić & Pivčević, 2016) implies continous process of negotiation in which both groups, tourist and residents aim to optimise benefits (Sharpley, 2008).…”