CACTUS CACTUS J Tour Bus Manag Econ CACTUS – Journal of Tourism Business, Management and Economics 2247-3297 ASE Publishing House Bucharest, Romania cactus-2026-8 Research Article Airports as tourism gateways: passenger perceptions and commercial revenue at Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport Cioranu Adrian https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0101-4610 acioranu@me.com Ţigu Gabriela https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6189-8027 Faculty of Business and Tourism, Bucharest University of Economic Studies Faculty of Business and Tourism, Bucharest University of Economic Studies 31 5 2026 8 1 73 82 1932026 2242026 Copyright © 2026, The Author(s) 2026 The Author(s) This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

<p>Airports have evolved from simple transit points into complex tourism gateways that shape the travel experience and generate significant non-aeronautical revenues. This study provides an innovative perspective by highlighting how each airport’s unique operating context affects the strategies available to airport managers for increasing non-aeronautical revenues while enhancing passenger satisfaction. The paper presents an empirical, passenger-based analysis by examining how passenger perceptions of terminal commercial offerings, perceived dwell time, travel frequency, airline type, and demographic factors influence commercial spending behavior at Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (OTP). A structured questionnaire based on the ACI Airport Service Quality (ASQ) framework was administered to 315 passengers, and the data were analyzed using Spearman correlations, chi-square tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, binary logistic regression, and MANOVA. The results show that perceptions of commercial space attractiveness correlate positively with overall airport experience valuation (ρ = 0.247, p &lt; 0.001), confirming the strategic importance of retail environments in airport tourism appeal. A counterintuitive finding indicates that passengers who perceive more available time after security are less likely to make purchases, suggesting that time pressure may trigger impulse buying at this airport. Travel frequency is the only globally significant predictor of post-security purchasing (p = 0.011), with occasional travelers showing a higher spending propensity than frequent flyers. Airline type (low-cost vs. full-service) has no statistically significant influence on purchasing behavior. The logistic regression model achieves an overall accuracy of 65.7%, demonstrating that perceptual and situational variables outweigh traditional traveler profile indicators in explaining airport consumer behavior. These findings have direct implications for airport managers, tourism planners, and commercial concessionaires seeking to optimize non-aeronautical revenue streams while enhancing the tourist passenger experience.</p>

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