Different streams in cruise tourism research: An introduction

Abstract

Diff erent streams in cruise tourism research: An introductionIt is almost fi fty years since cruise lines were established for the sole purpose of cruises purely for leisure; previously passenger vessels were used primarily as a means of transportation.Princess Cruise, which began in 1965, is the only company from those early days that is still operating -Cunard, P&O Cruises, and Holland America Line at that time were still focused on transatlantic travel.Since then we have seen the birth of today's three major cruise corporations: Norwegian Cruise Line, which began in 1966 as Norwegian Caribbean Line (NCL); Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL), which started in 1970 as the fi rst cruise line to introduce new, purpose-built ships for leisure cruising; and Carnival Cruise Lines which started in 1973 after its founder, Ted Arison, had a falling out with his partner in NCL, Knut Kloster (Klein, 2005a).Carnival, like most cruse lines of the day adapted existing ocean-going vessels.Despite its early beginnings, it was not until the 1990s that cruise tourism captured the interest of a few academic researchers.It was not until the early-to-mid 2000s that more than a handful of researchers focused on cruise tourism.Even today, the fi eld is relatively under-researched.Th ere is also the issue of the nature of this research.As Vogel (2011) observes, much of the research that is done is either technical or practical in nature; there is very little research that is emancipatory in nature or a critical analysis of cruise tourism.Technical-oriented research focuses on marketing, human resources and education, strategy and policy, and economic and statistics.Research with a practical interest searches for meaning and understanding, focusing on the means of achieving performative ends, such as improving customer loyalty.Th is type of research is mainly concerned with informing the cruise industry about how it can more eff ectively meet passenger wants and needs and how it can improve its product.Research that is technical-oriented and practical tends to view the industry favorably and the research supports the interests and the goals of the cruise industry.In contrast, emancipatory research critically analyses the cruise industry with a view toward understanding exploitative relationships with labor and ports, and problems such as lack of regard for the environment and inattentiveness to sexual assaults and other crime on cruise ships.Th e articles contained in this special issue refl ect the dominance in the literature and interest of academic researchers by being technical-oriented and practical.Th e emancipatory theme is included in this brief introduction to the issue.

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