Journal of International Scientific: Educational Alternatives, Volume 10
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JOURNALOF InternationalScientificPublications: EducationalAlternatives,Volume10,Partͳ Peer-ReviewedOpenAccessJournal Publishedat: http://www.scientific-publications.net PublishedbyInfoInvestLtd www.sciencebg.net ISSN1313-2571,2012,EuropeanUnion JournalofInternationalScientificPublications: EducationalAlternativesǡVolume10,Partͳ ISSN1313-2571,Publishedat:http://www.scientific-publications.net AdvisoryEditor IgorKyukanov,USA Co-EditorinChief KrystynaNajder-Stefaniak,Poland NkasiobiSilasOguzor,Nigeria EditorialBoard AlirezaValipour,Iran DimitriyBaryshnikov,Russia ElenaMurugova,Russia FlorinLungu,Romania GalinaSinekopova,USA JunichiSuzuki,Japan IrinaSidorcuka,Latvia NezihaMusaoglu,Turkey OliveraGajic,Serbia SimonaStanisiu,Romania SofiaAgapova,Russia SibelTuran,Turkey VladimirZhdanov,Japan ElzbietaPosluszna,Poland MiroslawKowalski,Poland PublishingbyInfoInvest,Bulgaria,www.sciencebg.net 2 JournalofInternationalScientificPublications: EducationalAlternativesǡVolume10,Partͳ ISSN1313-2571,Publishedat:http://www.scientific-publications.net PublishedinAssociationwithScienceƬEducationFoundation. 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PublishingbyInfoInvest,Bulgaria,www.sciencebg.net 3 JournalofInternationalScientificPublications: EducationalAlternativesǡVolume10,Partͳ ISSN1313-2571,Publishedat:http://www.scientific-publications.net EDUCATIONAL CRUISES – TOURISM PRODUCTS PROMOTING LEARNING Katija Vojvodic1 1University of Dubrovnik, Department of Economics and Business Economics Croatia, Dubrovnik, Lapadska obala 7, e-mail: [email protected] Abstract Due to the intensified competition within the cruise industry, cruise operators offer a wide range of different cruise products. Their products have become more segmented in order to target new market segments and provide experienced cruisers with new specialised products. While the majority of research interest has been devoted to the traditional, mainstream cruising, educational cruising has been a neglected issue in the scholarly tourism literature. This specific niche segment is often regarded as an integral part of the adventure cruise market. However, there is no established classification of the niche market within this industry. This paper focuses on educational cruises as an aspect of educational tourism, i.e. tourism products promoting learning. Consequently, the main aim of the paper is to determine the main characteristics of the educational cruise niche within the adventure cruise market and to provide some further insights on this under-researched subject. Key words: educational cruises, educational tourism, adventure cruises, educational cruise tourists 1. INTRODUCTION The broad concept of travel for learning and education is not a new one. Its beginnings were associated with the Grand Tour, undertaken initially by scholars and aristocratic British youth (Brodsky-Porges 1981, Towner 1984, Towner 1985, Gibson 1998, Ritchie, Carr & Cooper 2003). A rapidly growing sector of the tourism industry provides for special interest or activity holidays, ranging from educational, through arts and culture, heritage, to sports and outdoor pursuits (Weiler & Hall 1992). Both education and tourism industry are recognizing the mutual benefits of developing a more cooperative relationship (Cooper & Shepherd 1997). The world cruise market is one of the most dynamic segments and the fastest-growing sector of the tourism industry. Wild & Dearing (2000) emphasize that cruising does not fall exclusively within the classic framework of maritime economics but draws from both shipping and tourism and leisure. Similarly, Gibson (2008: 43) argues that ‘the cruise business is, in and of itself, an `industry`, because of scale, function and focus, yet it is also reasonable to categorise the cruise business as being related to tourism, leisure, hospitality and/or maritime industries’. Cruise shipping markets are being rapidly segmented and new cruise products can be developed within the context of marketing other forms of special interest tourism with high growth rates (Dwyer & Forsyth 1996). In that context, cruise tourism caters for common-interest tourism, e.g. theme cruises (Barron & Greenwood 2006). Cruises with special interest (such as sail, education or exploration) refer to purpose-built vessels, specialist crew and a degree of monopoly through differentiation (Bull 1996). Smith & Jenner (1997) outline that educational cruises do not come under the strict definition PublishingbyInfoInvest,Bulgaria,www.sciencebg.net 4 JournalofInternationalScientificPublications: EducationalAlternativesǡVolume10,Partͳ ISSN1313-2571,Publishedat:http://www.scientific-publications.net of educational tourism, but they straddle the space between leisure and study. Holdnak & Holland (1996) emphasize that other forms of edu-tourism also include theme cruises on board ocean liners. It seems rather difficult to make some strict distinctions between educational cruises and other niche cruises. One reason behind this lies in the fact that educational cruises are often found under the term ‘niche cruise operations’ and in many cases these ships have overlapping characteristics (G. P. Wild 2011). In addition, it is necessary to make a difference between education-oriented theme cruises on the mainstream cruise ships and educational cruise ships specialized in this niche market. With that in mind, in this paper the term ‘educational cruises’ will be adopted when referring only to a small segment of purpose-built, educational cruise vessels thus making difference from other mainstream vessels offering educational theme cruises. When analysing niche cruise market segments, one should bear in mind that the majority of the research interest has been focused on the mass cruise market. In that sense, the educational cruise segment has been an under-researched area in the scholarly tourism literature. Therefore, this paper seeks to address this knowledge gap by focusing on the theoretical aspects for the analysis of educational cruises as a specific example of the niche cruise market. The paper is divided into six main parts. Following this introduction, part two provides some basic elements and classifications of educational tourism. Part three provides an overview of adventure cruise market and the position of educational cruises within the market. Part four looks at the educational cruise tourists, their motivations and experiences of cruise vacations, while part five discusses the potentialities of educational cruises for destination and base ports development. The final part of the paper draws certain conclusions and directions for future research. 2. EDUCATIONAL TOURISM Educational tourism is not always easily defined and is often associated primarily with school trips. However, this broad area of study covers a number of different segments and a more precise classification must be developed. Following Ritchie, Carr & Cooper (2003:12), educational tourism may consist of: x General travel for education (or ‘edu-tourism’) and adult or seniors’ educational tourism, where some form of education or learning is an important (and often motivating) part of the tourist experience; x University/college students’ and schools’ tourism (language schools, school excursions and exchange programmes), whereby tourist experiences may be secondary to the educational aspect or intentions and may be considered ‘education first’ educational tourism experiences or products. The same authors also emphasize that both of these groups can be considered tourists as they have distinct tourism-related impacts and needs with a number of parameters that influence educational tourism experiences (Figure 1). As regards the literature on the educational tourism, it can be argued that the majority of research is found in so-called ‘education first’ or purposeful segment of educational tourism. These issues mainly refer to international students (Babin & Kim 2001, Weaver 2003, Townsend & Lee 2004, Huang 2008), student teaching abroad (Cushner & Mahon 2002, Quezada 2004), study abroad programmes (He & Chen 2010), backpacker learning (Loker-Murphy 1997, Pearce & Foster 2007), science- PublishingbyInfoInvest,Bulgaria,www.sciencebg.net 5 JournalofInternationalScientificPublications: EducationalAlternativesǡVolume10,Partͳ ISSN1313-2571,Publishedat:http://www.scientific-publications.net focused school trips (Cooper & Latham 1989, DeWitt & Osborne 2007, Farmer, Knapp & Benton 2007) and school excursions (Ritchie & Coughlan 2004). Figure 1 Parameters of educational tourism Parameters Minutes Length of Time Years No Intentions Intentions Full Intentions Multiple Purposes Motivation Sole Purpose Limited Preparation Preparation Full Preparation Informal Formality