Advancing river cruise product design: insights from cross-quality elasticity of river cruises to ocean cruises

This paper puts forward the concept of cross-quality elasticity, leveraging the commonalities of river and ocean cruise tourism, and develops a cross-quality elasticity equation with price, quality, and popularity as independent variables, while market share as dependent variable, calculating the cross-quality elasticity for river cruise tourism relative to ocean one. A model is developed for optimising river cruise itinerary and ship choice based on the cross-quality elasticity and the constraints of river channel capacity and itinerary type, to maximise the increased profits for river cruise operators. In the case study on the segments of Chongqing-Wuhan, Wuhan-Shanghai and Nanjing-Zhoushan along the Yangtze River, the home ports, ports of call, order of call, days of cruise travel, adoptions of cruise ships, and the number of tourists shifting from ocean cruise market have been determined. The results indicate that well-designed river cruises can expand the market of river cruise tourism; popularity exerts a moderating influence on the relationship between cruise quality and consumer demand; river cruise of high quality may serve as a viable alternative for consumers accustomed to ocean cruises.