Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
industry has been fuelled by both the increased efforts placed on home-porting vessels
out of St John's and the widening of the navigation channel to St John's Harbour to
accommodate the newer and larger vessels in the marketplace.
In a study of the economic impact of the cruise ship industry in St John's it was
reported that the cruise market was the fastest growing sector of the St. John's tourism
industry, growing an average of 38 per cent per year between 1995 and 2002. Over this
time period the number of passengers has grown 868 per cent from 1259
in 1995 to 12,191 in 2002. The economic impact of the cruise sector increased 25 per
cent to Can.$1.73 million in 2002; Can.$l,435,931 (83 per cent) of the industry
expenditures was derived from the in-transit market while the remaining Can.$293,736
(17 per cent) was obtained through the turnaround/home-porting market. Although the in-
transit market was the most lucrative market in terms of total visitors and total economic
impacts, the economic benefit per passenger was much higher for the home-porting
market (Can.$699.37) than it was for the in-transit market (Can.$123.60). The overall
economic benefit per passenger for both markets combined was Can.$143.68 (EDTD
2003).
Nevertheless, there is significant debate over the impacts of cruise ships. Ritter and
Schafer (1999), for example, argue that the ecological impact of cruises is low, spending
by individual tourists high, and accultural processes minimal, and claim that although the
number of jobs directly created as a result of cruises is low, it compares very favourably
against most other forms of travel as a sustainable development option. In contrast,
Marsh and Staple (1995) in a study of cruise tourism in the Canadian Arctic concluded
that given the environmental fragility of much of the region and the vulnerability of
small, remote, largely aboriginal communities to impact, great care should be exercised
in using the area for cruise tourism. Similarly, in examining some of the cultural
dimensions of the cruise ship experience, Wood (2000) argued that the global nature of
the cruise market has meant that cruise ships have become examples of 'globalisation at
sea' with corresponding deterritorialisation, cultural theming and simulation. In addition,
concern over the environmental impacts of cruise ships led the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to host a series of meetings in 2000 to solicit
input from the public, the cruise ship industry and other stakeholders on the issue of
discharges from cruise ships. These meetings were part of an information-gathering effort
on the part of the agency to prepare an indepth assessment of environmental impacts and
existing and potential measures to abate impacts from these discharges. Cruise discharges
are currently regulated through a combination of domestic and international pollution
prevention laws and the EPA was assessing whether these laws adequately protect the
environment and whether there are gaps in coverage or in application of these laws which
may pose a risk to the environment (Rethinking Tourism Project 2000).
