A picture fuzzy sets-based decision support model for the holistic assessment of cruise port tourism performance

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Yalcin G. C., Kara K., Simic V., Gurol P., Cakmak E., Pamucar D.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OPTIMIZATION AND CONTROL-THEORIES & APPLICATIONS-IJOCTA, vol.16, no.2, pp.657-688, 2026 (ESCI, Scopus)

Abstract

Sustainable tourism performance of cruise ports is a critical determinant of the long-term competitiveness of both ports and destination regions. This study aims to develop ad apply a novel piture fuzzy ses (PFSs)-based decision-support system to sstematically evaluate cruise pots' sustainable tourism performance by integrating qualiative expert judgments wth quanttative operational data. The proposed framewok adopts a ulti-attibute group decisin-making structure, in which PFSs are employed to explicitly capture ucertainty, hesitation, and neutrality in expert evaluations. Criteria weights are determined using an extended PFS-based weighs by envelope and slope (WENSLO) method, while cruisport rankings are obtained through a PFS-integrated multi-ttributive border approximation area comparison (MABAC) approach. The applicability of the proposed PFS-WENSLO-MABAC hybrid model is demonstrated through a case stuy of major cruise ports in Tu & uml;rkiye. The results indite that the number of cruispassengers (0.5601) and the numer of cruise ships (0.4218) are the most influental detrminants of sustainable tourism performance, with Ku & cedil;sadas & imath; Cruise Port (0.9029) achieving te highesoverall ranking. Sensitivity and robustness analyses confirm the stblity of the ranking outcomes under varying weghting scenarios. The findings provide actionable isights for pt authorities and policymkers by identfying priority prformance dimenionad offering a reliable analytical tool to support straegic plannig nd ustinbility-oriented decision-making in cruise tourism.