The white Caucasian and ethnic minority cruise markets: Some motivational perspectives

Abstract

There is substantial research that profiles the nature of tourists and the motivations that underlie their general travel behaviour. Travel research on racial and ethnic minority groups is very limited, however. Furthermore, hardly any work exists on the travel motivations of cruise tourists in general. Based on a survey of North American cruise passengers, this paper compares the motivations of white Caucasians and ethnic minority passengers for taking a cruise vacation. The results indicate that while there are many similarities, a number of important differences exist to warrant strategies for attracting more minority passengers to take cruise vacations.