Svalbard Overheating

? Destination Stewardship Report – Vol. 2, No. 4 – Spring 2022 ?

With its coal mines now closing, Norway’s polar archipelago of Svalbard faces a unique set of threats: disrupted tourism, rising temperatures, and increased international vying for arctic control. Yet its extreme location also provides a unique set of opportunities for reviving tourism, according to this Communiqué from Arild Molstad.

Its camouflage useless, a polar bear treads snowless terrain in Svalbard. Photo: Marcus Westberg

Breaking News from the Island of the Polar Bears

The inhabitants of Spitsbergen – all two thousand of them – don’t have to pore over the United Nations’ climate change reports to feel that something’s not right.

On the only populated island in the Svalbard archipelago, a mere 90 minutes’ flight from the North Pole, bursts of rain are beginning to appear in February. Tourists who fly from distant continents to the “capital” of Longyearbyen to explore the majestic mountains on snowmobile under the Northern Lights may instead find themselves back in their hotel rooms, waiting for colder weather, watching sled-drivers return their frustrated howling huskies to camp. Midwinter rain is bad news all around in Spitsbergen: For dogs’ paws caught in slippery tracks; for reindeer trying to scratch their way through frozen surfaces to forage for edible moss and lichen; for surprised tour operators caught out by inaccessible slushy terrain.

Rising Temperatures

“This ain’t supposed to be happening,” sighs a tour guide, downing a pint of foamy Mack’s Beer in a popular bar, where some of his old drinking buddies are nowhere to be seen. As coal mining is being shut down permanently, their sooty, grimy, exhausted faces remain only as black and white photo portraits on the wall, mementos from a colorful history now fading away. Some of the gritty facades that once gave Longyearbyen its one-company-town atmosphere have yielded to erosion- and avalanche-proof housing.

The melting of Svalbard is not happening in a hurry. For decades the archipelago will remain a bucket-list destination for travellers looking for adventure, remoteness, and the spectacular, unforgettable beauty of the black granite mountains topped by glittering ice, their glaciers sloping towards fjords and valleys like bridal veils.

Svalbard tour guide trainee. Photo: Arild Molstad

But the metrics are scary. The archipelago is the fastest-melting place on earth: Since 1971 the temperature has risen by 4 degrees Celsius, five times higher than the world average. In winter the increase is 7 degrees. An astounding +22°C was recorded last summer.

Which means that ecotourism, which in the last decades was seen as Svalbard’s sure-fire alternative to a doomed coal mining industry, is facing an uncertain future. This comes at a time when this distant destination has been struggling with a post-pandemic decline in visitors, who even prior to 2019 didn’t stay long, most of them cruise passengers doing short day excursions.

Tourism Goes Greener

That is why Ronny Brunvoll is burning the midnight oil these days. As the leader of Visit Svalbard, he is in charge of an expert team updating the Svalbard Tourism Master Plan. It is important work, fraught with challenges, many of them political. The 1920 Svalbard Treaty was based on compromises between eight nations, one of them a weakened Russia in the aftermath of WWII.

The treaty conferred sovereignty upon Norway , but declared the archipelago a visa-free zone, meaning anybody willing to work is welcome. Local laws are dictated by the arctic weather, safety, and environmental concerns.  Now, against the background of rapid climate change and – until the pandemic struck – growing tourism, Norway’s government in Oslo is prescribing a strict regimen that curbs visitors’ movement anywhere on the islands.

Above all, that regimen will hit cruise tourism hardest, imposing a ceiling on the number of passengers per vessel. No final decision has been made yet, but the limit will likely be set to between 200 and 500 passengers, effectively putting a stop to conventional, polluting large-cruise-ship traffic. What will be allowed: expedition-class motor vessels. But even they will face strict rules as to where and when they can organize shore excursions.

Dog sledders pass beneath a shrinking glacier. Photo: Arild Molstad

“We must find ways to keep them here longer,” says Mr. Brunvoll , who is conscious not only of the per capita CO2 emissions burned during the long journey from the mainland by ship or plane, but of the need to find employment for Norwegian citizens. One way to do so is making it compulsory to hire locally trained guides who are familiar with the terrain – and armed for protection against polar bears looking for food scraps as their traditional habitat is threatened by shrinking ice. No ice means no place from which bears can catch seals. “The bears are easier to spot now,” a wildlife guide told me. “But remember, they’ll spot you long before you see them.”

Global Safety Vaults as Attractions

The tourism challenge is a delicate balancing act. Recently, more visitors have been drawn to Spitsbergen’s Global Seed Vault – a repository of seeds from mostly developing nations, should they face a famine, natural catastrophe or acts of war. Nearby another vault has recently been dug into the permafrost – the Arctic World Archive. Here nations’ institutions are depositing rare, invaluable artifacts, data, documents, and art, digitalized on tape guaranteed to last for 1,000 years.

The Arctic World Archive is built into the permafrost. Photo: Copyright AWA

Now there is talk about building a visitor center to welcome visitors to both vaults. If that happens, it would likely be an attraction that could prolong the average tourist’s stay. The center would function as a drawing card for narrating the colorful, exciting story of Svalbard, from the early 17th century arrival of fearless trappers and fisher folk to the transformation into a tight-knit community, situated in a place once considered remote, but now caught in the middle of a modern version of the colonial powers’ “Great Game.” Today ambitious nations are jockeying for position and access to oil and gas, precious minerals and huge fish stocks, as the Arctic Sea soon will become ice-free.

Vanuatu Tourism Gets a Reboot

Naluandance, Malekula culture. All photos Courtesy of the Vanuatu Department of Tourism

The pandemic has caused massive disruption to the tourism industry around the world. But it has also created an opportunity for destinations to reboot the sector to move forward in a more thoughtful and sustainable way. Here, Geoff Hyde shares how Vanuatu is doing just that. 

Living its Ni-Vanuatu Values: Vanuatu Plans for Resilience, Agritourism, and Cruise Reform

“I rely on volcano tours for my livelihood but I also want to protect my family and community from getting sick from Covid,” said a local guide at a recent tourism workshop in Ambrym, Vanuatu. Indeed, Vanuatu’s Department of Tourism (DoT), in conjunction with public health officials, has been conducting workshops around the country to deliver the twin messages of business survival through financial grants while following health protocols, including vaccinations, to provide safe business and community environments when borders reopen. 

Located in the South Pacific, Vanuatu has a strong and authentic Melanesian culture and an abundance of natural assets within its 83 islands. Closure of international borders has plunged the economy into a serious socio-economic crisis. Like most small island states, Vanuatu has been heavily dependent on its tourism sector.

Gaua Beach, Torba Province.

Economic Reliance on Tourism

According to World Bank data, from 2016-18, Vanuatu had the eighth highest proportion of tourism receipts and the seventh-highest direct contribution of tourism to GDP. More recent pre-Covid 2019 tourism statistics from the World Travel and Tourism Council, show the direct and indirect contributions of tourism in Vanuatu accounted for 48% of GDP (Vt 46.8 billion). This data, combined with over 135,000 cruise ship arrivals in 2019 add another Vt 2.1 billion to Vanuatu’s economy (DoT Sustainable Cruise Tourism Plan, 2020.) All totalled, these statistics reveal a high level of reliance on the tourism sector.  

Tam-Tams in the Nasara sacred Rom Dance Ground.

Such a dependency was recognised by the Vanuatu DoT well before the pandemic hit. From 2016, the DoT had been planning for and implementing a more sustainable and diversified approach to tourism development. Funded through NZAid, the Vanuatu Strategic Tourism Action Plan produced the Vanuatu Sustainable Tourism Policy 2019-2030, a key initial project informed by nationwide stakeholder consultation. A vital piece of this policy included its Vision, which states, “To protect and celebrate Vanuatu’s unique environment, culture, kastom [traditional, authentic culture], and people through sustainable and responsible tourism” with its goals and objectives based on a set of these shared values:

“Tourism in Vanuatu embraces the traditional and formal economies; it provides sustainable growth by strengthening national and community resilience with the ultimate goal of delivering equitable economic, social, cultural and environmental benefits for Vanuatu and its people.”

Vanuatu’s Crisis Response in Action

In response to the international border closure, the DoT quickly established the Tourism Crisis Response and Recovery Advisory Committee comprising government representatives, including the Director of Public Health, and private sector stakeholders. Tourism sector policy advice and information was then fed into the National Disaster Management Committee

This resulted in two planning documents with action plans: 

  • The Immediate Safety, Response and Economic Recovery Plan, May to December 2020 for short term responses delivered under the five pillars of health, access, product, marketing, and communications; and 
  • the Tourism Crises Response and Recovery Plan, 2020 to 2023 which became part of – and is now – being implemented through the Vanuatu Sustainable Tourism Strategy 2021 to 2025Following four themes, the VSTS is more aligned to the GSTC Destination Criteria, the National Sustainable Development Plan, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals:
    • Wellbeing: through High Value, Low Impact Tourism 
    • Resilience: through Niche Tourism Product Development
    • Diversification: through Agritourism
    • Sustainability: through Certification, Investment and Ni-Vanuatu Entrepreneurship

Despite the setbacks from the pandemic, the DoT has been further encouraged and inspired to implement this sustainable tourism strategy and program as part of the recovery process. This will help diversify the product and create resilience within the tourism sector. Under the VSTS, DoT and its partners are now implementing sustainable tourism programs, utilising one or more of the above themes. 

The programs are:

Tourism Business Support Program (TBSP) launched in March 2021 and managed by DoT through a representative Steering Committee. The TBSP provides financial support and technical assistance for eligible tourism businesses to survive the pandemic’s impacts and have them ready to receive tourists when borders reopen. The eligibility criteria encourage tourism businesses to follow the principles of sustainable and responsible tourism by signing a code of conduct promoting product diversification and increasing local benefits. Financial assistance is available in these categories:

  • Tourism Business Survival Grants: for costs associated with cleaning, maintenance, gardening, security, safety, and utility bills.
  • Renewable Energy Subsidy Scheme: for equipment and appliance purchasing through the National Green Energy Fund.
  • Agritourism Support Program: assistance for selected projects that have integrated the tourism and agriculture sectors into their products. For example, the famed Jungle Zipline attraction is now diversifying into cacao and macadamia nut production to supply local chocolate manufacturers and develop tours when borders reopen.

Safe Business Operations (SBO) Training Program – commenced in October 2020, SBO is mandatory industry training across all sectors to ensure workplace compliance with the health and safety protocols for Covid-19. To date, training workshops and awareness sessions have been delivered to over 2,000 participants in 1,323 businesses across all provinces. SBO is managed by DoT in partnership with the Department of Public Health, the Australia Pacific Training Coalition, the Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, World Vision Vanuatu, Vanuatu Institute of Technology, and Vanuatu Skills Partnership.

Agritourism Support Program – encourages diversification and resilience by integrating agriculture and tourism products. It attempts to create a point of difference with Vanuatu’s local cuisine through the ‘Traditional Cuisine Revival Program’ and the ‘Slow Food Educational Program.’ The latter aims to increase the use of local,

Sign at a handicraft market.

sustainable, and organic produce within the tourism industry and raise the nutritional quality of food served to tourists. The DoT is implementing a business mentoring program for 27 local businesses who have now formed the Vanuatu Agritourism Association. This includes business planning, management and digital marketing, as well as presentations on the SBO and TBSP. 

Cruise Tourism Product Development Program – has been implementing the Vanuatu Sustainable Cruise Tourism Plan adopted in March 2020. The Government of Vanuatu is adopting a stronger presence in the  management and control of the cruise tourism segment under ‘high value–low impact’ sustainable tourism principles. The DoT has also recently commissioned independent local consultants to undertake a feasibility study for an Expedition ship to be based in Vanuatu to develop a ‘fly-cruise’ product more conducive to sustainable tourism principles and increased Ni-Vanuatu benefits. A more representative management committee, chaired by DoT, has been established to implement a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the two main cruise companies, Carnival and Royal Caribbean. This MOA was independently reviewed by Sustainable Seas Ltd (UK) and includes references to the GSTC Destination Criteria.


Geoff HydeMr. Geoff Hyde M.Sc. (Tourism Planning/Development Economics), B.A. (Leisure Planning) is the Managing Director and Principal Consultant of Sustainable Tourism International Ltd. (STIL), a tourism consultancy company dedicated to the principles of sustainable tourism as a tool for socio-economic development. He has spent 30 years as a Tourism Sector Adviser and the last five years as the Technical Adviser to the Vanuatu Department of Tourism.

Once Overrun, Dubrovnik Plans for Sustainability

Dubrovnik, Croatia, a UNESCO World Heritage city, is known as the ‘Pearl of the Adriatic Sea’, its historic city center surrounded by original medieval stone walls – and until recently, thronged with cruise ship passengers. In 2017, that began to change. The following before-and-after story has been provided by the Mayor’s Office, City of Dubrovnik (with a closing note on the Covid hiatus).

View over the medieval historic core of Dubrovnik, ‘Pearl of the Adriatic’.

[All photos courtesy of the City of Dubrovnik]

‘Respect the City’ Program Includes Limits on Cruise-ship Crowds

Dubrovnik, a champion of Croatian tourism, is a city that is both a museum and a performance stage, a unique combination of history and modernity – a city with a capital C. Its rich cultural heritage, different architectural styles, various cultural events, film tourism (think Game of Thrones), Mediterranean flavors, and superior accommodations draw millions of tourists each year. The old city center, surrounded by original medieval walls, has been under UNESCO World Heritage inscription since 1979.

The coastal city is a popular stop-off for cruises. In 2013, for instance, there were more than one million cruise passengers in Dubrovnik, occasionally resulting in more than 10 thousand visitors in the historic core at one time.

Cruise ships pack the main Dubrovnik port in times before “Respect the City”.

By 2017 the city was facing negative publicity in global media due to overtourism and  uncontrolled tourism development. The city was falling victim to its own success, and its citizens were becoming more openly critical. Amidst such chaos, many visitors could not fully experience the city’s history and culture. Eventually, UNESCO warned that the overwhelming number of tourists could result in its World Heritage listing being revoked and advised that no more than 8,000 tourists be in the historic core at any one time.

Signs of 21st-century mass tourism hang on a medieval street.

Shortly after being elected in June 2017, mayor Mato Franković introduced the multidisciplinary project “Respect the City” (RTC), aiming for more sustainable development of Dubrovnik. He began tackling the difficult challenge to reduce overcrowding through different measures for relieving traffic congestion and implementing smart city solutions. In particular, he reduced the number of souvenir stands by 80 percent and cut the number of restaurant tables and chairs by 30 percent. As a result, the City has lost some revenue, at least 5 million kuna a year (around €660,000 or US$786,000 ). To illustrate, the highest rent for a small stand at that time was more than 400,000 kunas annually, achieved at public tender.

‘Some of the measures we implemented are unpopular, but such moves are necessary if we want to reach the sustainable tourism we seek’, said Mayor Franković about financial losses. ‘Our task is to put the needs of citizens first. Everything we have done and will do in the future will greatly contribute to creating a unique destination experience and increase the quality of the overall service for all visitors’.

Various strategies have been implemented in cruise tourism. The City approached the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and, in partnership with them, reorganized cruise schedules to stagger departure and arrival times. It is essential to emphasize that the cruise industry is an important segment of the economy in Dubrovnik. The city policy was that the number of people was never a problem; it was the flow. Better flow was achieved by organizing the ship-arrivals timetable more carefully, both daily and throughout the year. The maximum number of ships was set to two ships at once and the limit of visitors in the walled city coming from cruise ships at 4,000 – half the number suggested by UNESCO. Harmonization of arrival times has relieved pressure on the historic core in the summer seasons of 2018 and 2019 (pre-COVID years), compared to 2017 and earlier.

The 16th-century Pile Gate, main entrance to the old town, blocked by crowds in 2017 . . .

. . . and flowing freely in summer 2019.

CLIA´s repeated willingness to cooperate in order to resolve the existing problems in the spirit of partnership is precious to the City of Dubrovnik. As a part of that partnership and the “Respect the City” project, Dubrovnik in 2019 became one of the 30 world destinations for which the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) has done a Destination Assessment and Action Plan. Development of the Plan represents the City’s firm commitment and unshakeable determination in moving tourism towards a sustainable future.

The City achieved 70% of excellence in the GSTC report, attesting to its focus on a sustainable future for tourism and the city. GSTC recognized numerous examples of good practices in the process, mainly regarding public safety, urban cleanliness, and a high degree of heritage conservation. These included the reconstructed Lazareti site, special measures for heritage protection, local festivals, products, and entrepreneurs, as well as protection of biodiversity, and monitoring the Respect the City project itself.

Sustainable Tourism for a Sustainable Future
‘This report represents a new beginning of the story of a sustainable Dubrovnik and a sustainable way of managing tourism as our main industry,’ said Mayor Franković. ‘Working on assessment in 2019, GSTC consulted with 70 stakeholders from national and local government, the private sector, NGOs and universities, and residents. All stakeholder inputs are very valuable to us, because we want our city to be a great place for anyone – residents and guests alike’, he concluded.

Evening in Dubrovnik, after many cruise passengers have left.

The conservation of cultural heritage, the quality of citizens’ daily lives, and the provision of the best possible experience of Dubrovnik as a destination – all those are motives for this shift in destination management. Respect the City attracted the attention of international media and the global tourism sector. Dubrovnik is increasingly becoming perceived as a city that has started managing its tourism in a sustainable way. As key factors in years to come, the City of Dubrovnik is planning to take over cruise ship shuttle services and gradually eliminate traffic around the gateway area.

In COVID-19 times Croatia was recognized as a safe destination due to its good epidemiological situation in 2020, and safety continues to be the focus in 2021.

Cuban Tourism at a Crossroads

[Above: Rolling Americana Survives in Today’s Cuba. Photo: Lucy Matthews.]

Relations between the United States and Cuba are changing, and have been since late 2014 when President Obama began normalizing ties.

While tourism itself is still banned, United States citizens can legally visit Cuba under twelve travel categories. My May 2016 group trip fell under the “educational activities” umbrella, and was organized by the Center for Responsible Travel (CREST) and Cuba Educational Travel (CET).

Warming relations between the US and Cuba, including expanded ways for Americans to visit, have led to a huge increase in travel to the country. It is not uncommon to hear Americans saying they want to visit Cuba “before it changes” and citizens of other countries scrambling to visit “before the Americans ruin it.”

Tourism has been a part of the Cuban economy for some time, however with large increases in US visitation, it is likely to change. With improved relations with the island nation, American tourism companies are looking for ways to put down roots in Cuba. Our visit coincided with the first journey of an American cruise ship (Carnival Fathom) coming to the island nation in more than 50 years.

At one point, we had a fascinating tourism lecture from economist Rafael Betancourt. Among many thought-provoking components of the discussion, he mentioned that due to a current lack of sufficient levels of tourism infrastructure in port cities, increases in cruise ships to the island are considered beneficial (with a floating hotel, increased visitor numbers don’t have to mean an accommodation overflow).

As visitation to Cuba increases, there are some who are concerned about what form this tourism might take.

Hotel Moka Las Terrazas complements the landscape. Photo: Lucy Matthews.

Hotel Moka Las Terrazas complements the landscape. Photo: Lucy Matthews.

A positive example of ecotourism was Hotel Moka Las Terrazas, where we stayed in the mountains our first night in the country. It is an ecolodge created to exist in harmony with nature and to bring visitors to the small community of Las Terrazas, where inhabitants aim to live in balance with the environment. To achieve this aim, many residents help with reforestation projects. The community benefits from Hotel Moka because tourists visit the local shops, restaurants, and cafés.

Another form of tourism held up as a positive example was that of “casas particulares.” Similar to Airbnb, casas particulares are often structured as visitor housing in a separate section of the owner’s permanent residence. We spent a few days in casas particulares in the town of Viñales. This was a great way to spend more time with local Cubans, to eat home-cooked meals and to experience an approximation of day-to-day Cuban life.

A “casa particular” in Viñales. Photo: Lucy Mathhews.

A “casa particular” in Viñales, Cuba. Photo: Lucy Matthews.

The task ahead for Cuba is to figure out how tourism can benefit rather than overwhelm or commercialize the island nation. From what we heard on the trip, there does seem to be interest in managing Cuban tourism in order to maintain what makes Cuba “Cuban,” however there didn’t seem to be a high level of coordination around this aim.

What Cuba I will see if I return in 10 years? Today’s visitors who say they want to see the island before it changes—likely picturing those elements of island life that are remnants of the 1950’s—are probably right: The island will change. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing. If change is managed properly, tourism can do what it does best: highlight a distinctly Cuban sense of place and be an economic driver and catalyst for cross-cultural exchange. If left to a mass-touristic model, the Cuba I visit in 10 years may more closely resemble Miami than Havana.

News from the Alaska Geotourism Initiative

[Above: Lake Naknek, gateway to Katmai National Park. Photo courtesy Bristol Bay Borough]

Fall 2014 Update

The Alaska Geotourism initiative is a collaboration convened by University of Alaska faculty and program specialists and now includes rural tourism business and community leaders focused on identifying viable rural economic development management strategies that maximize beneficial tourism for their communities and seek to further good destination stewardship. Another outcome is to provide a source of information to re-introduce Alaska gateway communities to the US and international geotourism communities.

The following is a brief overview of Alaska geotourism projects currently underway.

1. Community Familiarization – Alaska Geotourism is looking at strategies to promote rural Alaska for those regions/villages that see geotourism as a viable approach to maintain community health and community viability. The communities of Naknek and King Salmon in association with the Bristol Bay Native Association will be hosting a familiarization tour for some small tour operators to visit the Bristol Bay region (Salmon Capital of the World and also gateway to Katmai National Park)

Bears feed on salmon, Katmai National Park. Photos: Adelheid Hermann

to participate in a planning session with village leaders to help plan the geotourism strategy for their communities. (See also http://www.bbna.com/NewsLetters/June2014NewsletterWEB.pdf)

BearFalls1

Local communities want to grab more bear-watching tourists flying into Katmai.

2. New Educational Curriculum – The University of Alaska Fairbanks Department of Alaska Native Studies and Rural Development faculty member Cathy Brooks, Assistant Professor & Faculty Advisor for Festival of Native Arts Advisor (cabrooks2@alaska.edu) is currently developing a geotourism class for undergraduate students. It will be offered both campus-based and distance. Jonathan Tourtellot and Larry Dickerson of University of Missouri have been project advisors.

3. OLE in cooperation with the UAF Cooperative Extension Service is presenting a non-credit 4-part course entitled Geotourism: Preserving a Sense of Place at the Anchorage Extension Center with hopes to introduce the geotourism approach to a wider Alaskan audience.

4. Cultural Exchange – The Asian Alaskan Cultural Center representing 8 Asian communities www.aaccus.org is working with the communities of Seward, Fairbanks and Wasilla to bring the story of 1890s Japanese Alaskan pioneer, Jujiro Wada, back to Alaska in 2015 via a musical play/cultural exchange in those communities. Wada, from Japan, was an early Alaskan adventurer, early explorer, and marathon runner and much much more ( http://www.cityofseward.us )

For more information, contact: Alaska Geotourism Chair Willard Dunham via info@destinationcenter.org

Info You Can Use from the Coastal Tourism Symposium

Actionable information presented at the Coastal Tourism symposium held in Grenada, July 2014

“I think this third of CREST’s coastal tourism symposiums was the most useful yet,” says our portal editor, Jonathan Tourtellot, a symposium presenter and moderator. The symposium, organized by the Center for Responsible Travel (CREST), focused on coastal tourism in regards to sustainability, impacts on local and global markets, and the future of coastal tourism. Continue reading

Beach & Cruise Tourism: Volume vs. Value

[Above: Three cruise ships at the Philipsburg pier in St. Martin. Photo: Jonathan Tourtellot]

July Symposium in Grenada to Address Worldwide Coastal Tourism Overload

Tourism based on sun, sand, and sea is the largest, fastest growing, and most lucrative sector of the tourism industry. Globally, 12 of the 15 top international destinations – including Mexico, France and the United States — are countries with coastlines. In the U.S., three coastal states (New York, Florida and California) host nearly three quarters (74%) of the total number of overseas visitors to the country. And Mexico has over 2,000 hotels along its Pacific, Gulf, and Caribbean coastlines.

The growth and expansion of cruise tourism has been even more dramatic, with the number and size of ships, passengers, ports of call, and profits all on the rise. Cruise tourism is dominated by three main cruise lines – Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Star/Norwegian Cruise Lines – which control 90% of the North American market. From 1970 to 2012, the cruise industry grew 40-fold, from 500,000 in 1970 and 4 million in 1990, to 20 million in 2012. Ship size increased from 500 – 800 passengers in the 1970s to today’s “floating cities”, the largest of which accommodates over 7,000 passengers and crew.

Cruise and all-inclusive coastal resorts are expected to remain popular, as increasingly urbanized travelers in the Americas, Europe, and Asia seek sun and sea combined with easy-to-book, fixed-price, and standardized holiday packages. Cruise and resort bookings have become the bread-and-butter business for tour operators and travel agents. And tourism-dependent countries, which typically measure success by increased tourist arrivals, have put out the welcome mat for big box coastal resorts and mega-cruise ships.

Environmental and Social Impacts

The expansion of coastal and marine tourism has, however, led to a range of serious environmental and social problems. These, in turn, have spawned increasing resistance from coastal communities and environmental groups, alarmed by destruction of mangroves and coral reefs, competition for fresh water and other scarce resources, rising real estate prices, and displacement of local fishing and farming communities.

High-volume, low-margin beach tourism in Spain. Photo: Jonathan Tourtellot

High-volume, low-margin beach tourism in Spain. Photo: Jonathan Tourtellot

In April 2013, for instance, a group of eleven conservation organizations petitioned Mexico’s Commission for Environmental Cooperation to stop development of four massive tourism resort projects around the Gulf of California. They charge that the projects violate Mexico’s environmental laws and threaten unique coral reefs and mangrove ecosystems as well as endangered species of whales, sharks and many types of migratory birds. And currently, in Haiti, the extremely poor residents on the tiny island of Ile-a-Vache are protesting government moves to expropriate their land to make way for high-end resort development.

Cruise ships have also caused a range of environmental problems. Beginning in the late 1980s, garbage dumped by cruise ships was washing up on Florida beaches and the Gulf of Mexico coastlines. Cruise lines have faced a steady stream of fines for illegal dumping. Between 1998 and 2002, for instance, the cruise lines paid over $50 million in fines. A combination of new regulations, NGO campaigns, and bad press has led cruise companies to take series of steps to clean up their practices – and their image. However, by the new millennium, civic activism had expanded to also include concerns about cruise ship impacts on destinations, both ports of call and home ports. Public protests have percolated in destinations as diverse as Hawaii, Alaska, Key West, Charleston, S.C. in the U.S.; Venice, Italy; Cozumel, Mexico, and Bermuda in the Caribbean.

The Economics of Cruise and All-Inclusive Resort Tourism

The economic model of cruise lines and all-inclusive resorts is largely the same — to keep tourist spending concentrated within the business – and this, in turn, has negative consequences for the economies of coastal destinations.

The cruise sector’s economic success is facilitated by a legal loophole: the “flag of convenience.” The three major cruise lines, while headquartered in Florida and carrying mainly American passengers, have registered their ships offshore, in Liberia in West Africa, Panama, and, the Bahamas. This allows them to circumvent a range of U.S. laws, including minimum wages and tax liabilities as well as safety standards, inspections, and environmental and labor laws.

In addition, on-board spending is an increasingly important part of cruise line income, ranging, according to a UN World Tourism Organization study, to between 25% and 35% of total income.   Cruises have a captive market within ships as well as at ports, with onshore excursions and facilities often owned by subsidiaries of cruise lines. According to another recent study, the average customer spends about $1700 for a cruise, including on ship and on land expenses and the majority of these expenses are captured within the cruise ship.

Fifty percent of cruise tourism takes place in the Caribbean where it goes toe-to-toe with land-based tourism. Both bring about 15 million visitors a year, but, according to the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), land-based, stay over tourists spend 13 times more than cruise passengers ($994 vs. $77). CREST’s studies in Central America (Costa Rica, Honduras, and Belize) found similar disparities, with stay over visitors spending between six and eighteen times more than cruise passengers. These findings from the Caribbean and Central America confirm that stay over tourism is far more beneficial to the local economy than cruise tourism.

CREST has also analyzed the different types of stay over tourists in Costa Rica, comparing those coming to the large coastal resorts versus those coming for ecotourism. Based on airport departure surveys, we found that ecotourists in Costa Rica stay longer – on average, 12 nights in 2012 compared with 9 nights for those staying in coastal resorts – and spend more — $1300 compared with $1079. In addition, ecotourists visit more parts of the country and engage in a wider range of activities. Ecotourism therefore leaves more in the local economy and spreads the economic benefits around the country.

A range of other studies in Tobago, Turkey, Kenya, Canary Islands, and Barbados have found that all-inclusive resorts tend to kill off local restaurants and other businesses located outside the resort, while staff in all-inclusives face less favorable working conditions, including greater levels of stress, considerably less tips, and larger numbers on short term contracts than employees in other types of accommodations.

These findings show that that arrival numbers alone say little about the actual costs and benefits of tourism. The more limited economic benefits of large scale cruise and resort tourism, combined with their often negative environmental and social impacts, demonstrate that tourism planners need to put more emphasis on high value rather than high volume tourism.

Symposium & Sustainability Expo, July 9-11, 2014, in Grenada

St. Georges waterfront, Grenada. Photo: Jonathan Tourtellot

St. Georges waterfront, Grenada. Photo: Jonathan Tourtellot

Many coastal businesses and individuals are taking steps toward high value tourism through environmental, social, and economic innovation. CREST is partnering with the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and the island of Grenada to present the 3rd Innovators in Coastal Tourism Symposium & Sustainability Expo, July 9-11, 2014, in Grenada. This unique event will bring together 100 to 150 invited ‘green’ experts and practitioners, including real estate developers, operators, investors, and other businesses committed to (or considering) new sustainable models of marine, coastal, and island tourism development. These are the thought leaders who are breaking the mold of cookie-cutter resort development and mass-market cruise ships. In addition to business leaders, a select group of participants will be invited from key government agencies, NGOs, academia, community organizations, and international development organizations. Climate change and the need for responsible development has made these discussions all the more important, and we welcome all with an interest in sustainable coastal tourism to attend. Full updated Symposium details are available at: ctocrestsymposium.com.

This post adapted from my forthcoming book: Selling Sunshine: Coastal and Marine Tourism in the Americas, Island Press, 2015.

Cruise Numbers Overwhelm Small Ports

Carnival’s latest crises have relatively little impact on destination quality, but their circumstances do. At this writing, Carnival’s third embarrassing malfunction of the year is underway in St. Martin, where the Carnival Dream is stuck with a bad generator. The company has to fly some 3,600 passengers home. (Picture how many aircraft that involves.)

Three cruise ships at the Philipsburg pier in St. Martin. Photo: Jonathan Tourtellot

Three cruise ships unload at the Philipsburg pier in St. Martin. Photo: Jonathan Tourtellot

It’s those four-digit passenger counts that can turn cruise ships into the strip mines of tourism when it comes to their impacts on small port cities. Continue reading