Are cruise holidays part of responsible tourism?

Are cruise liners the bad boys of travel? I guess I hadn’t thought about this issue before now, but I have come across a thought-provoking article on the issue.

I’m aware that the cruise holiday market has been one of the growth stars of the travel industry over the last decade or so. According to the Passenger Shipping Association, the UK cruise market grew by 12% in 2007 and is expected to grow by 14% in 2008. This is due to increased disposable income amongst the core customer base (older people without kids) and increased capacity in the market (new ships, better facilities).

But maybe things will change as customers consider more closely the environmental damage that cruise liners create compared with other forms of leisure travel.

I came across this quite convincing analysis that argues the case against cruise liners. There is some pretty powerful data in here.

The key points I picked up were:

- A large cruise liner emits 0.43kg of CO2 per passenger mile, compared with 0.257kg for a long-haul flight (and I thought flying had a high carbon footprint!)
- On average, passengers on a cruise ship each account for 3.5 kilograms of rubbish daily - compared with the 0.8 kilograms each generated by local people on shore
- There is significant damage to coral reefs from cruise liners.
- There is considerable debate over the degree of economic benefit cruise ships bring to local destinations.

Making the case for the defence, your students can access this article