The Local and Long-Haul Cruise Passenger Market Segments: What are the Implications of Their Emergence for Cruise Destinations?

This article investigates the emergence of two distinct segments in the global cruise market: the local passenger, who lives within the region that they cruise to take a cruise, and the long-haul cruise passenger, who flies from their region to take a cruise in another region. The research examined the relative prior cruise behavior and relative intention of passengers to return to New Zealand as a destination. Four hundred and seventy-nine cruise passengers from nine cruise ship arrivals were interviewed in a single destination, Dunedin, New Zealand. Three hundred and sixty-four were local to the Australasian region, and 115 were long-haul arrivals, primarily from North America and the UK. The research revealed very large differences in prior behavior and future intentions between the two segments. Long-haul passengers were typically much more experienced cruisers and had a very much lower intention to return than did their local equivalents. These findings are consistent with cruise berth providers' expectations that the industry is developing into a global industry with multiple significant passenger source/destination regions and two distinct global mass cruise passenger segments: long haul and local. The implications for cruise destinations and direction for further research are discussed.