  Citation: Lorenˇ ciˇ c, V.; Twrdy, E.; Lep, M. Cruise Port Performance Evaluation in the Context of Port Authority: An MCDA Approach. Sustainability 2022, 14, 4181. https://doi.org/10.3390/ su14074181 Academic Editors: Marc A. Rosen and Armando Cartenì Received: 3 March 2022 Accepted: 30 March 2022 Published: 31 March 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). sustainability Article Cruise Port Performance Evaluation in the Context of Port Authority: An MCDA Approach Vivien Lorenˇ ciˇ c 1, * , Elen Twrdy 1 and Marjan Lep 2 1 Faculty of Maritime Studies and Transport, University of Ljubljana, Pot pomoršˇ cakov 4, 6320 Portorož, Slovenia; elen.twrdy@fpp.uni-lj.si 2 Faculty of Civil Engineering, Transportation Engineering and Architecture, University of Maribor, Smetanova ulica 17, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia; marjan.lep@um.si * Correspondence: vivien.lorencic@fpp.uni-lj.si Abstract: When it comes to analyzing cruise port performance, port operators have a challenging task because there are no widely accepted or well-known procedures for evaluating cruise port performance. Any performance measures used by port authorities are rough and only offer an approximation of the terminal’s operational performance. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to present a multi-criteria assessment model to assist port authorities in evaluating cruise port performance from a multidisciplinary perspective. We investigated the compatibility and utility of combining the AHP and TOPSIS methods in a proposed MCDA model for assessing cruise port performance. The AHP method was used to provide the weights of port performance indicators, and the TOPSIS method was used to assess the port performance and to create a rank list of ports. A case study involving four Mediterranean cruise ports, Barcelona, Piraeus, Civitavecchia, and Marseille, was used to show the model’s application. The case study results reveal that the safety–environmental aspect is the most important aspect in assessing cruise port performance. We compared the proposed model to a state-of-the-art paper and discovered that our model can successfully cope with various multi-criteria models for port performance assessment. Keywords: cruise port; port performance; Mediterranean; AHP; TOPSIS 1. Introduction Cruise ports in the Mediterranean experienced rapid development in the decade prior to COVID-19 due to a general increase in the regional market, varied tourist attractions with natural and historical diversity, port connectivity and accessibility, and geopolitical and economic situations in the Mediterranean region. Cruise passenger numbers in the Mediterranean increased by 11.51% in 2019 compared to the same ports in 2018 [1]. The constant development of ports, growth in cruise traffic demand, and regional attractiveness are forming competitive relationships between cruise ports in the Mediterranean region. More efficient and productive cruise ports in the area have a better chance of becoming a chosen port on a cruise ship itinerary. Ports are an essential element of the cruise industry chain since they encourage cruise lines to add ports to their itineraries and attract potential cruise passengers. Consequently, the pressure on cruise ports to invest in port development and improve their performance has increased. The performance of cruise ports is affected by various factors, including technical, socioeconomic, safety–environmental, and touristic aspects, which are often assessed using a variety of approaches and include several decision-makers and planning actors. However, these factors also influence cruise lines’ decisions to add a port to the cruise itinerary and, as a result, to attract potential passengers to certain ports. The popularity of a cruise port is related to several factors that influence the port’s competitiveness. According to [2], the following factors are essential for cruise lines when choosing a port for a ship itinerary: the natural environment of the hinterland, cruise terminal infrastructure, tourism Sustainability 2022, 14, 4181. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14074181 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability