An Optimization Model to Help Cruise Companies to Evaluate their Offer in a Basin

Ambrosino, D.; Asta, V.

This work focuses on the problem of evaluating and improving a current offer, when the market changes due to either new customers demands or new actions of competitors. A model for evaluating the current offer of cruise itineraries is proposed. A case study related to the Mediterranean sea cruise offer is presented. Offers have been compared in terms of demand satisfaction, revenue, costs, accessibility and appealing values that are important information that can help the decision maker to choose the best offer in accordance with the trend of the demand, the future business development and the future companys strategies. The current situation due to COVID-19 pandemic represents an extreme case that poses new decision problems and requires different analysis due to very high level of uncertainty. The present paper can furnish useful insights for facing some of the emerging decision problems but it is dedicated to help decision makers in evaluating the cruise offer when changes occur in a single market or in a limited area.