Title: Cruise tourism: economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts

Authors: Juan Gabriel Brida, Sandra Zapata

Addresses: School of Economics and Management, Free University of Bolzano, Universitatsplatz, 1, I-39100, Bolzano, Italy. ' Escuela de Turismo, Colegio Mayor de Antioquia, Barrio Robledo Cl. 65 N 77-126, Medellin, Colombia

Abstract: Cruise tourism generates an estimated $18 billion a year in passenger expenditure and has been the fastest growing sector of the travel industry in the last years. Arrivals in the Caribbean region increased from three million in 1980 to more than 25 million in 2007. In this paper we describe the evolution of the cruise industry and review the experiences of different cruise destinations. We also describe different activities associated to the cruise ship industry to identify costs and benefits for the actors of the local economies.

Keywords: cruise industry; economic impact; environmental impact; socio-cultural impact; travel industry; environment; Caribbean Sea; West Indies; leisure marketing; tourism marketing; shipping industry; cruises; cruise tourism; cruise destinations; local economies.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLTM.2010.029585

International Journal of Leisure and Tourism Marketing, 2010 Vol.1 No.3, pp.205 - 226

Published online: 30 Nov 2009 *

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