Rola portów morskich w rozwoju cruisingu na Karaibach

Abstract

Sea tourism brings huge profits to the Caribbean. The cruise market is set mainly for tourists coming from North America. Low travel costs, high income and the long-lasting tradition of sailing excursions are the main reasons. More and more European tourists can also be seen in the Caribbean thanks to numerous air connections. The cruise routes follow the most attractive ports. The ongoing competition causes the increase of quality of passenger’s service and goods. The investment of island countries in the development of tourist infrastructure in ports grows with every year. It results in creation of ports which serve mainly tourist ships. Despite the fact that most ports fulfil the basic functional criteria, only few occupy high positions in the world ranking of handling passenger and freight traffic. The competitiveness of ports is a complicated process and has many reasons. Base ports are studied in this paper, with a special stress put on Miami and Everglades. They are one of the most important base ports for Caribbean circular cruises. The factors influencing competitiveness of a port, its internal and external spatial and functional links are analysed as well.