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Cruise Industry: Sailing towards an uncertain future?
To Whom It May Concern:
We came across this information in the trades and thought it would be of interest to this newsgroup as well. If this is somehow a repeat of an earlier post, sorry we missed it. This can always be ignored or deleted. John Sisker SHIP-TO-SHORE CRUISE AGENCY® (714) 536-3850 or toll free at (800) 724-6644 & (pagoo ID: 714.536.3850) http://www.shiptoshorecruise.com A flurry of negative news about the cruise industry, with this week's fire onboard and recent unsolved crimes on ships, provides a general picture of the current state the cruise industry is in and ultimately begs the question: Is the cruise industry headed for disaster? Canadian author and cruise critic Ross Klein of Cruisejunkie.com said cruises' environmental impact to natural environment can no longer be ignored. Cruises have resisted repeatedly conversion to low sulphur fuels despite the environmental advantages. Volumes of emissions from ship main engines can be found in Cruise Ship Environmental Task Force Report to the Legislatu Regulation of Large Passenger Vessels in California. While hotels and other land-based tourism establishments have reduced their water usage, lighting costs and LPG units - replacing them with diesel units, thus reducing operational inputs and ultimately reducing impact to tourist product, cruises have a lot of catching up to do. Land-based tourism carefully chooses the chemicals or detergents to use. They also find ways to reduce water consumption; while cruise ships are given fresh water, which has restrictions on usage by local consumers. Klein pointed out the irony water supply poses. Further, while cruises conserve some fuel if they can, they have avoided the increased cost associated with cleaner-burning fuel - choosing instead to not reduce significant impact. Therefore, cruises contribute to air pollution significantly when using incinerators in or near port areas. They also potentially affect marine ecosystems through discharges and anchorage. Sewage is a big issue also because ships discharge them at sea. Klein said despite treatment, effluent from vessels has consistently been found to have excessive amounts of fecal coliform and many conventional pollutants. Some have addressed the issue with installing advanced wastewater treatment systems acting on fecal coliform and total suspended solids. Liners have not dealt with nutrient loading or ammonia, copper, nickel or zinc, according to the Alaska Department of Environment. With regard to cruise tourists coming en-masse, since people often travel in larger groups, they put a greater strain and stress on the areas they visit. Klein noticed that the beach looks qualitatively different on a day a ship arrives than an on other days when no cruise passenger comes to Antigua, for instance. Conversely, proportional to its environmental impact is its local importations. Klein argues the cruise business generates less economic impact to the destinations than do land-based tourism. Distribution and subsequent importation of items such as furnishings, food and beverage, amenities, equipment, are generated more by hotels. Cruises purchase very few products from islands they visit. Distribution and transporting guests on tours, to and from hotels etc, is less used by cruises. Klein said, "Given the nature of the cruise visit - an intense 8-hour stop in which passengers go to see or do something, and they use a bus or taxi (minimally) make less of an impact to distribution, compared with land-based tourists given a week or more on the island, mixing their sightseeing with the beach. Distribution impact needs to look at environmental carrying capacity - the limited transportation links which could in turn, limit destination growth, and the physical ability for an island to be developed based on available space. Either way, the cruise business will have to do its share to improve on distribution and not leave it up to the destination or hotels to sort out the problem. Horace Hord Jr., Royal Caribbean Cruises' regional vice president of Government and Community Relations, said leisure cruising will continue to ride a wave of unprecedented passenger growth and popularity, buoyed by a strong market demand, an emphasis on ship introductions and innovations, more US homeport availability, a renewed demand for exotic ports, and strong brand marketing and attention to quality and service standards. More than 10.6 million cruised in 2004; over 11 million in 2005 including approximately 10 million form North America. About 30 million is predicted within the next three years. With the rise in cruising, cultural impact of wealthy tourists and overcrowding created by large numbers of visitors at one destination will occur. Said Klein, "Exceeding carrying capacity of one destination seriously disadvantages tourism." For example, the BVI complained about crowding on the beach, traffic, lack of sufficient rest rooms, cruise passengers conflicting with yachting, long-term visitors and the community as a whole as a result of topless sunbathing near schools. On top, the people also criticized the lack of local input or control of visitor invasion. At a hearing in 2004, it was mentioned that average overnight visitor contribute $485 per day as opposed to cruisers who shell out $25 per day. Annual BVI revenues for overnight hotel guests reached $141 million, yacht visitors $100 million and day-visitors only $9.6 million. It was clear they felt it was pointless to expand cruise tourism, which justifies neither economic nor social gains. Hord, however, disagreed; saying that the average Caribbean port of call passenger spending was $103.88 and average crew spending was $72.06. A typical ship carrying 2000 passengers and 900 crewmembers generates $300,000 in spending, combined. The Florida Caribbean Cruise Association representing 13 cruise lines reported that its member passengers and crews accounted for approximately $1.4 billion in direct spending and $1.2 billion in indirect spending, as annual economic impact throughout the Caribbean alone from the cruise industry. Hord also added it seems that cruising saved the travel industry after Sept. 11. For one, while people stopped flying, others took to the seas. Many started making reservations 3-6 months prior to departure, and even longer for luxury and exotic itineraries. Responding to consumer demand for closer home vacations over the last years, Hord reported the cruise lines responded by moving ships within driving distance of more customers. On major issues, cruise ships operate with little regulation, with virtually no monitoring and voluntarily choose whether or not to respect an island coastal waters, said Klein. Klein thinks ships should engage in cleaner practices and green incentives regulations such as port usage fees mandated by local legislators. Economic impact of cruises is limited to the length of visit. While hotels generate money for the hotel and for the island through local employment and from local goods, ships don't according to Klein. Hord argued that cruise-related expenditures generated 60, 136 jobs in the Caribbean alone yielding $285 million in wages to the residents. Cruise passengers do spend some money when they visit the island, but Klein added a significant portion of what they spend is kicked back anyway to the cruise ship, the CEOs or other offshore companies, leaving relatively little to multiply through the local economy. Hord said a high 85 percent of cruisers think that cruising is an excellent way to sample various destinations and that they may plan a return visit as a stay-over guest. "Nearly 50 percent expect to return to take a land-based vacation. This should be viewed as an opportunity of utmost importance to any destination to convert the predisposed passenger to a stay-over hotel guest," he said. As a port increases its reliance on the cruises, it decreases its bargaining power with the cruise industry argued Klein. He explained that a port free to let cruise ships pass it by has better bargaining chip than one that believes it needs the ships to dock at its facility. He cited Key West, Florida as an over-stressed port - having allowed cruise tourism to exceed the limits of what the port can comfortably absorb. As a result, cruise passengers themselves often complain of a poor visit. The volume of passengers detract from the experience of hotel guests who find the over-crowding a nuisance. Cruise tourism has displaced land-based tourism, as a result, bears upon local business. "Those catering to cruise passengers are doing better than those catering to folks who are coming to spend a week at a hotel." About the news surrounding the recent events on cruises including crimes, strange disappearances and fires onboard, New York-based cruise critic and Travel Notes chief correspondent Jonathan Siskin said media has not been fair about it. "Considering 11 million people take cruises every year, the amount of bad publicity is minimal. Just because these stories made headlines does not make the cruise industry all that bad. People focus on the sensational rather than look at the track record," Siskin said, adding that cruising is the safest way to travel in which very few people lose their lives. |
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