Cruise Passengers Expenditure in Costa Rica: Cross-Section Data Analysis for 2008
Tourism Analysis, Vol. 15, No. 4. pp. 425-434, 2010
9 Pages Posted: 14 Jul 2009 Last revised: 19 Jun 2011
Date Written: June 19, 2009
Abstract
The present short paper considers the cruising expenditure in Costa Rica as a key variable in the economic analysis of the cost and benefits associated with the cruise industry. We use cross sectional dimension for 2008 to analyze the different variables influencing expenditure levels. Conducting this kind of analysis in a rigorous way requires appropriate statistic and econometric tools. We profit of very good quality data collected by the Costa Rica Tourism Board (ICT) rarely accessible for the cruise sector to estimate a cross-sectional regression model for the cruising expenditure depending on different characteristics of the cruise passenger and their travel. We also use the data to analyse the determinants of the probability of repeat visits to Costa Rica. The results that have been obtained show the existence of different tourist profiles that are related to the expenditure levels. We show that heavy spenders are distinguishable from the other segments in terms of age, hours spent out of the ship, nationality, income levels and their spending pattern.
Keywords: cruise industry, Costa Rica, tourist profile, tourist expenditure, economic impact
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