Editor’s note: This article was published on July 17, 2024.
The European head of the world’s biggest cruise trade body has warned its members may need to avoid some of the world’s most famous destinations to protect passengers. over tourism.
Several European cities have vented their frustrations over the rise in tourism numbers and the effect it has on the price of food, accommodation and everything else in the local ecosystem. Tourism’s environmental footprint is a complaint against giant ships that emit carbon.
Barcelona, a popular starting point for cruise ships, has been taken over by the locals spraying tourists with water guns. Demonstrators in Spain’s Canary Islands began a hunger strike in April to protest overcrowding.
Last October, protesters greeted cruise passengers dressed in polar bears and sea lions When they landed in the French port of Brittany, a nod to the industry’s penchant for pollution.
A study by the Transport and Environment campaign group has found European luxury cruise ships It emitted as much toxic sulfur as 1 billion cars.
rising tide
As the protests become increasingly hostile, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) has suggested that ships may need to be diverted to protect passengers from violence.
“Adjusting routes will be considered if we believe that for some reason not all passengers will be treated well,” Marie-Caroline Laurent, CLIA’s European director. say Reuters.
Laurent didn’t specify which cities the routes might be in, but it’s easy to connect the dots after a wave of protests across the continent in recent months.
Mayor of Barcelona The most popular in Europe port for cruise ships, he said the city could not accommodate the 3.5 million more passengers it accepted in 2023.
CLIA defended its presence in Barcelona, claiming that only 4% of the city’s visitors were cruise passengers.
Venice, which cruise ships prohibited from the center in 2021, “tourism tax” this summer to discourage day-trippers from the city or to make extra money by limiting it to a month after moving group size that could be gathered in the city.
while Amsterdam plan to reduce it by almost half By 2026 the number of cruises that can stop at its port each year and by 2035 a total ban.
And in Greece, locals have started using drones to monitor new rules on sunbeds. stop overlapping on the country’s beaches.
Despite a growing hospitality shortage, the global cruise industry will carry 10.7% more passengers in 2028 than in 2023, when 31.7 million tourists boarded ships.
