Environmental Impacts of Cruise Tourism

For this report I will be researching and analyzing the negative impacts that the cruise industry has had on the world.  There are obviously many positive aspects that do come with the expansion of the cruise line industry reaching more exotic and less developed places in the world but there are also very many negative impacts that occur at the same time. The cruise line industry has rapidly increased in popularity all over the world, especially in Asia, Australia and Europe.  The cruise industry is one of the most exciting and fastest growing industries in the tourism world.  Most cruise companies are restructuring their itineraries to include the visitation of exotic parts of the world but this extension has been challenged by the negative impacts that are involved with these destinations.  Cruise tourism has a variety of environmental, social and economic impacts that may be positive or negative.  One side of the spectrum illustrates how cruise tourism can help raise environmental awareness to under developed areas of the world but the other side shows how it also has the ability to disrupt communities, cause mass amounts of pollution and be the source of a loss of culture. 

Pollution is one of the major impacts that are associated with cruise tourism.  The most obvious impact is the burning of fossil fuels in order to propel these large ships through the water. This is largely contributing to the amount of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere which is helping cause global warming.  Researchers have estimated that the average tourist trip to Antarctica results in a total emissions of approximately 5.44 tonnes of CO2 per passenger.  In the 2008-2009 season it was estimated that cruise trips to Antarctic alone contributed to 198, 000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.  Although this is only .02 % of the world-wide tourism related emissions, the per tourist emissions caused by a single Antarctic trip greatly exceeds both the average emissions per international tourist trip, 0.68  tons of CO2,  and the annual per capita emissions of the average world citizen 4.38 tons (Malakoff 2011).

There are many types of pollution that cruises contribute to, these include noise pollution, sewage, garbage, solid waste and people pollution.  Noise pollution includes everything from the noise of the ships to the noise created by the mass amounts of tourists on board.  Mass amounts of tourists to any given location can create an unnecessary amount of sewage and garbage waste in which some communities may not be prepared for.  People pollution is one of the major factors involving social and cultural issues in exotic places of the world.  Due to the large amount of passengers arriving at any given location puts stress on local communities and their people.  There is also an increase in demand for secondary resources (such as water and energy) when large amounts of visitors arrive at any given location. 

In conclusion the environmental and economic issues related with cruise tourism are becoming more and more relevant as the industry continues to grow.  Governments and large firms are a vital component to the progression of sustainable development, rational use of resource and mitigation of negative results of expansion of this tourism industry.