Residents’ perceptions of cruise tourism: Cartagena de India

Abstract

This paper explores how residents in the Caribbean city of Cartagena de Indias regard cruise tourism as affecting their community. Local attitudes and perceptions allowed it to segment the community’s opinion into six different groups using a hierarchical cluster analysis. The overall results indicate the cruise industry is perceived as positive from an economic point of view, but results of the research also suggested that community’s attitude should not be viewed as homogenous in its support for cruise tourism development. Indeed, its opinions regarding cruise tourism and its management were significantly diverse across a variety of socio-economic and demographic indicators, mainly the place of residence. This information has serious implications for the management of tourism in the city and other cruise destinations.