Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Antonio Fernández Morales
Author-Name: Yanira Martín Carrasco
Title:  Concentración e impacto estacional del turismo de cruceros en Málaga
Abstract: Resumen: En este artículo se analiza el patrón estacional del turismo
de cruceros en la ciudad de Málaga, y su impacto en la concentración estacional
del turismo hotelero de la ciudad. Una de las principales conclusiones del
trabajo consiste en que, a pesar de que el turismo de cruceros presenta una
concentración estacional anual más acusada que el turismo hotelero en Málaga,
favorece la reducción de la concentración estacional del turismo hotelero en la
ciudad, debido a la compensación de los meses de máxima demanda.
Abstract: Cruise tourism is one of
the tourism segments with highest growth rates in recent years; and Málaga, a
coastal city located in the South of Spain,does not constitute a an exception
in this general trend. The increasing importance of cruise tourism in this particular
destination is the motivation some recent reports that analyse its impact on
the whole tourism sector and the economy of the city.
On the other hand, tourism in Málaga
and the Costa del Sol shows significant levels of seasonality, due to the traditional
predominance of the sun and sea product in this coastal destination since the
beginning of its tourism development in the 60’s.  However, the seasonal patterns of cruise
tourism in Málaga and the Costa del Sol has been hardly investigated and, as a
consequence, little is known about its impact on the whole tourism demand in
the city. Thus, the aims of this paper are (i) to find out the monthly seasonal
pattern of the cruise tourism in Málaga, in order to get a deeper insight into
its structure and evaluate the degree of seasonal concentration, by means of
the Gini index; and (ii) to approximate the magnitude of its impact on the
seasonal concentration of the hotel demand in the city.
The data sources used in this paper
are the monthly series of cruise tourism arrivals from the Patronato de Turismo de Málaga y la Costa del Sol, for the period
2002-2011, and the monthly series of travellers and overnight stays from the InstitutoNacional de Estadística’s
(Spanish Statistical Office) Encuesta de
OcupaciónHotelera (Hotel Occupancy Survey) for the same period.
The monthly seasonal patterns have
been estimated by the multiplicative seasonal decomposition of the series,
while the annual seasonal concentration has been assessed by means of the Gini
index and the Lorenz curve.
A recent report (Cruises News Media
Group, 2012) indicates that the direct expenditure of cruise tourists in Spain
were €578 million for 2011 (4.2% higher than for 2010). Focusing our attention
to the province of Málaga, for the same year, 638,845 cruise passengers
generated a direct expenditure of €47.6 million. The distribution of these
passengers is divided into 34.6%using Málaga Port as their homeport and 65.4%
using it as a port of call. These figures position Málaga Port in the fifth place
within the national ranking of ports, related to the number of cruise passenger
arrivals, and the first in the southern Spain region (Andalucía). 
The monthly seasonal pattern of
cruise tourism in Málagashows a bimodal profile. The main season corresponds to
the months of October, November and September, with seasonal indexes of 1.76,
1.54 and 1.43, respectively. A secondary season is also found in May and April,
with indexes of 1.16 and 1.11. It is worth noting that the summer months, June,
July, August and September, present seasonal indexes lower than one. These
months constitute the main season in the general hotel tourism in the city,
being August the month with the highest number of travellers and overnights.
In order to assess the annual degree
of seasonal concentration we used the Gini index. The Gini index for the series
of cruise tourist arrivals is greater than the corresponding figures for the
travellers who stay in hotels in Málaga. The former ranges from 0.21 to 0.31 in
the observed period, while the latter ranges from 0.08 to 0.15. In 2011 the
annual concentration of cruise tourist arrivals, measured by the Gini index,
was 0.24, and the travellers staying in hotels in Málaga show a Gini index of
0.13. 
However, the Lorenz curves also show
that the concentration occurs in different months, allowing a ‘compensation’
effect. This positive effect could be added to the significant economic impact
derived from the fact that the average daily expenditure of cruise tourists
(€88) is greater than the corresponding to the general tourist (€77).
Trying to assess the seasonal impact
of cruise tourism on the general hotel tourism in Málaga, we have estimated the
monthly distribution of tourists staying in hotels in Málaga who are cruise
tourists in homeport, and detracted this figure from the monthly series of
tourists staying in hotels. Since the proportion of cruise tourists who stay at
hotels in Málaga is not available, we simulated four different scenarios, with
40%, 60%, 80% and 100% cruise tourists in homeport staying al hotels. 
The results show that for 2011, the
Gini index for the estimated series of non-cruise tourists staying in hotels is
greater than the Gini index for the original series (0.1315) in the four
scenarios, (ranging from 0.1332 to 0.1485). Thus, although the seasonal
concentration of cruise tourism is higher than the concentration of hotel
tourism in Málaga, due to the fact that the cruise tourism seasons are to be
found in months with lower hotel occupancy, its effect over the general series
is a decrease in the level of annual seasonal concentration.
Finally, we have also simulated
three additional scenarios with greater percentages of cruise tourists using
Málaga as homeport (40%, 45% and 50%) and the results shows seasonal concentration
indexes in the whole hotel tourism sector slightly greater than the current
one. But in all cases, the effect of the cruise segment is to decrease the Gini
index that would result in absence of cruise tourists.
The results of this study indicate
that the promotion of Málaga Port as a homeport for the cruise tourism sector
may generate several benefits for the city. Firstly, the current proportion of
cruise tourists using Málaga Port as homeport, around 35%, is still relatively
far from other competitor ports, like Barcelona Port with a 56%, leaving room
for improvement. Moreover, this kind of tourist generates a greater daily
expenditure with a reduced consumption of resources, due to their generally
short stay. Thus the city may obtain earnings higher than from the traditional
tourist of the sun and sea product.
In addition, the impact on the
seasonal concentration level is very attractive. As is has been estimated,
increases in the number and proportion of cruise tourists using Málaga Port as
homeport help to redistribute along the year the number of tourists staying in
hotels in the city, which is a valuable addition to the merely economic impact
of higher earnings. 
Classification-JEL: R1
Keywords: Turismo de cruceros, Concentración estacional, Indice de Gini, Cruise tourism, Seasonal concentration, Gini index
Pages: 43-70
Volume: 3
Year: 2014
File-URL: http://www.revistaestudiosregionales.com/documentos/articulos/pdf-articulo-2449.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:rer:articu:v:3:y:2014:p:43-70