Residents' perceptions and attitudes towards the cruise tourism impact in Gran Canaria

Abstract

This paper analyses the perceptions and attitudes of the residents of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria with respect to cruise tourism in Gran Canaria (Spain). We collected information on residents' perceptions and attitudes towards cruise tourism through a survey and we applied a Principal Component Analysis to obtain the explanatory variables (factors) in order to estimate a logit model to explain those perceptions and attitudes. The results show that residents' perceptions of cruise tourism have a positive effect from a socio-economic point of view. Regarding environmental effect, residents' perceptions are negative in terms of air pollution, marine pollution and accumulation of dirt, as might be expected. Finally, residents' perceptions of public policies that limit the development of cruise tourism are negative. This result seems to indicate that there is no need to limit the arrivals of cruise ships or to impose a touristic tax in Gran Canaria. Policy implications are discussed and suggestions for further research are provided, including the need to study possible changes in perceptions due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 that occurred after the completion of this work.