Authors : Anna Karadencheva

Volume/Issue : Volume 11 - 2026, Issue 8 - August

Google Scholar : https://tinyurl.com/36fxks8h

DOI : https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/26aug1624

Note : A published paper may take 4-5 working days from the publication date to appear in PlumX Metrics, Semantic Scholar, and ResearchGate.

Abstract : Cruise tourism is undergoing a multidimensional transformation shaped by changing traveller expectations, technological development, sustainability pressures, demographic and lifestyle change, and evolving relationships between ships and destinations. This paper develops a conceptual framework for interpreting how these forces may reshape cruise tourism toward 2040. Drawing on a future-oriented review and thematic synthesis of contemporary cruise tourism literature, the study examines transformation at three analytical levels: sectoral drivers, emerging forms of experiential value, and cross-cutting conditions enabling their development. The analysis identifies six Emerging Cruise Experience Archetypes: Exploration & Discovery, Knowledge & Development, Premium & Individualized, Health & Well-being, Community & Shared-Interest, and Lifestyle & Living-at-Sea. Rather than representing fixed market segments, vessel types or itinerary categories, the archetypes describe potentially overlapping configurations distinguished by their dominant source of passenger value. The study further identifies technology, sustainability and human interaction as three crosscutting enablers influencing how these experiential configurations can be designed, delivered and sustained. These elements are integrated into the proposed Cruise Tourism Futures 2040 Framework. The framework shifts the conceptualisation of emerging cruise tourism from product-based classification toward experience-based differentiation and highlights the increasing convergence of maritime mobility with exploration, learning, well-being, community and everyday life. Rather than predicting a single future cruise model, it provides an interpretative structure for analysing diversification and supporting subsequent empirical research.

Keywords : Cruise Tourism; Cruise Experience; Experience Archetypes; Tourism Futures; Maritime Tourism; Experiential Value; Cruise Innovation; 2040.

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