Abstract The positive trend in the cruise industry since the beginning of the twenty-first century brings with it a series of challenges, mainly for cruise lines and ports. Among them is the seasonality of cruise traffic. This study examines the seasonality of the cruise traffic in the Western Mediterranean and the Adriatic Sea. A sample of 26 ports in 7 countries forms the basis of the empirical analysis, which uses the monthly total cruise passenger movements of each port during the period from 2005 to 2015 as a variable. Methodologically, a “dynamic” classification of ports structured in three sizes is proposed, the seasonality pattern of each port is determined, a cluster analysis is applied to group the ports in clusters with homogeneous patterns, and the changes in seasonal concentration during the analysis period are determined using a Gini coefficient. The main findings suggest the heterogeneity of the ports in the analyzed area and the existence of two clusters with different seasonality patterns. Furthermore, a list of strategies is provided to address the negative effects of cruise traffic seasonality in the management of cruise terminals, taking into account that each cluster obtained requires different strategies.

中文翻译：

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西地中海和亚得里亚海的邮轮交通季节性模式：对港口运营商的挑战

摘要 21世纪以来邮轮业的积极发展趋势带来了一系列挑战，主要是针对邮轮公司和港口。其中包括邮轮交通的季节性。本研究考察了西地中海和亚得里亚海邮轮交通的季节性。实证分析以 7 个国家 26 个港口为样本，以 2005 年至 2015 年期间各港口的每月邮轮客运总量为变量。在方法论上，提出了三种规模结构的港口“动态”分类，确定每个港口的季节性模式，应用聚类分析将具有同质模式的港口分组，分析期间季节性浓度的变化使用基尼系数确定。主要发现表明分析区域内港口的异质性以及存在具有不同季节性模式的两个集群。此外，考虑到获得的每个集群需要不同的策略，还提供了一系列策略来解决邮轮码头管理中邮轮交通季节性的负面影响。