Decarbonized tourism travel mode: design of river-sea connecting cruise products considering the cumulative utility of tourist experience

The ‘one-stop’ service and environmentally friendly river-sea connecting cruise travel, which integrates river and sea itineraries seamlessly, is regarded as a promising alternative to the traditional coach-based tours for inbound tourists. Considering the cumulative utility of tourist experiences, this study systematically analyzes inbound tourist preferences for coach-based tours versus river-sea connecting cruises. Subject to waterway capacity and itinerary types, a decision-making model is developed to optimize river-sea connecting cruise itineraries, cabin prices and ship choice, aiming to balance tourist experience and operator profitability, and identifying the optimal product schemes, while also evaluating its potential contributions to tourism decarbonization, especially its adaptability and economic benefits under carbon tax policies. Subsequently, taking Malaysian tourists traveling to China as the target, and attractions along the T-shaped tourism corridor formed by Yangtze River and China’s eastern coastline as destination alternatives, a case study has been done on the segments of Chongqing-Shanghai-Zhoushan and Wuhan-Shanghai-Tianjin. The results reveal that river-sea connecting cruise products with medium travel durations and low cabin prices are particularly appealing to price-sensitive overseas tourists with limited vacation time. Furthermore, river-sea connecting cruise product demonstrates substantial advantages in promoting tourism decarbonization, offering a novel and viable pathway toward a low-carbon transformation.