Relating Spatial Quality of Public Transportation and the Most Visited Museums: Revisiting Sustainable Mobility of Waterfronts and Historic Centers in International Cruise Destinations

Abstract

Museums are main tourist resources for independent cruise passengers in cultural cruise destinations. However, their influence on cruise destinations is scarcely analyzed. The aim of this paper was to focus on two questions: What distribution of museums facilitates a sustainable mobility of cruise tourists in balance with urban needs? And which factors affect the potential use of both means of sustainable travel—soft mobility and public transport—at cruise destinations? The network topological features of main museums were analyzed to compare similar features among tourism destinations. A topological study based on the model of the three urban fabrics was related to the objective quality of PT. This allowed for a greater walkability or potential use of PT to be estimated. The results allowed for a diverse sample of cultural tourism port cities with cruise activity to be classified in three centralized levels and two decentralized ones. Results indicated that centralized networks are more prone to cruise tourists, while decentralized networks are more related to main cultural destinations. Finally, the discussion section analysed recommendations and measures to improve sustainable mobility and the planning of new museums. The results of this paper will be of interest to cultural and transport managers at these types of destinations.