Is cruising along European rivers primarily intended for seniors and workers from Eastern Europe?

Abstract

The subject of the paper is river cruising along the rivers of Europe in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania and Italy. The research needed to determine the trends in terms of consumers and labour force, particularly considering great political and economic changes in Europe (and the world) in the last ten years. The aims of the research were set in relation to the following: to determine the profile of a tourist as well as the crew members. This paper is based on empirical and theoretical research. It combines quantitative primary and secondary as well as qualitative data collection (interview). Primary data was collected from the "Uniworld" company by analysing crew manifests in order to define the demographical profile of the employees. Secondary data collection was used to define the profile of the tourist, where latest relevant publications were consulted. Qualitative method was used to gain more insight in the latest trends of River Cruising by interweaving the managers of the "Uniworld" company. It was determined that "baby boomers" are no longer prevalent on the cruise ships, but the "millennials" cohort are on the rise. Such changes will require a new approach among the cruising companies -in terms of the concept of service delivery and marketing. However, among employees there is no significant change, suggesting that this type of job market is tightly regulated by EU regulations. This research offers valuable data in the field of tourism destination management, as well as the needs of some stakeholders, especially in terms of human resources management and management of strategic development issues. This is important both for the countries which already have positioned themselves on the cruising market as well as for emerging destinations.

Implications of generational change: European river cruises and the emerging Gen X market

“…While there are abundant literature focusing on multiple facets of blue water ocean cruising, there are limited research relating to river cruising (Erdeji and Dragin, 2017; Prideaux and Cooper, 2009). The result is that we have little knowledge about the motivation to undertake these cruises and perceptions of these experience.…”

Mountain tourism and motivation: millennial students’ seasonal preferences

“…The growing interest in millennials and tourism is evident in the research conducted by Veiga, Santos, Águas, & Santos (2017), which underlined how the ability of millennials in developing their digital skills, their being connected, and their constant openness to new experiences can disrupt the tourism sector's logic. Different experiments have been conducted to shed light on how millennials react to new communication tools and on the actual relevance that social media, the internet, and all the digital instruments have in their decision making in the tourism industry (Erdeji & Dragin, 2017;Loda, Coleman, & Backman, 2010;Şchiopu et al, 2016). Results have underlined the importance of the internet in promoting destinations (Loda et al, 2010), giving millennials the opportunity to choose and directly book their travel online as well as express their opinions after the journey by posting reviews and photos online (Erdeji & Dragin, 2017;Şchiopu et al, 2016).…”

“…Different experiments have been conducted to shed light on how millennials react to new communication tools and on the actual relevance that social media, the internet, and all the digital instruments have in their decision making in the tourism industry (Erdeji & Dragin, 2017;Loda, Coleman, & Backman, 2010;Şchiopu et al, 2016). Results have underlined the importance of the internet in promoting destinations (Loda et al, 2010), giving millennials the opportunity to choose and directly book their travel online as well as express their opinions after the journey by posting reviews and photos online (Erdeji & Dragin, 2017;Şchiopu et al, 2016). The relevance of the internet is related to the fact that for millennials, it is important to co-create experiences and provide feedback on the good or bad experience they had during the journey (Erdeji & Dragin, 2017).…”

Mountain Landscape Preferences of Millennials Based on Social Media Data: A Case Study on Western Sichuan

“…Millennials are the backbone of the population, and they extensively use online social platforms to express themselves [37]. For millennials, it is important to co-create experiences and to provide feedback on good or bad experiences during their trip [38]. Meanwhile, the information collected about millennials' travel is also utilized to promote and to develop some destinations [39].…”