by Thanos Pallis
Ports are eternal motors of growth and change. People, ideas, essential supplies, and goods have always moved via sea and ports. Thanks to cruise activities, the role of ports in advancing the prosperity of port cities has expanded. Guests onboard cruise ships combine seagoing voyages, tourism, and entertainment. By visiting several ports, cruisers enjoy exploring destinations, tourist sites, living conditions, and cultures. An extra dimension has been added to the flows that ports bring to the cities and the broader communities they serve.
What started as an industry serving the luxury of a few has speedily emerged as a dynamic and vibrant industry for many. Cruise shipping has been able to advance through all different storms. Even the perfect storm, as the recent pandemic has been, could halt growth only temporarily. In the last year of the 20th century, the number of people cruising worldwide reached 6.3 million, exceeding all expectations. Twenty-five years later, this number is fivefold: 31.5 million persons generate over 180 million visits to world cruise ports and the associated destinations within a year. The magnitude of the rather predicted post-pandemic revival has been such that it brought forecasts forward. The 40 million cruisers per year threshold will be reached before the end of the decade.
Ports have strived to host the expanding cruising shipping. Today, they allocate some of their scarce land to develop sophisticated terminals and related infrastructures to serve cruise vessels and their guests. They do so even though this activity generates less income for ports than others and despite the seasonal character of cruising. For many ports, cruise activities have been the means to return to the community, generating income for several stakeholders. Besides, this has been the way to secure the ‘license to operate’ for the equally expanding cargo traffic.
Port cities initially endorsed this prospect unqualifiedly. Even at a casual glance, it has been clear that the positive impact of cruise calls and visiting passengers contributes to many winners. This company includes several stakeholders well beyond those directly linked with the port. In some cases, cruise activities have even reversed the fortunes of the hosting port cities and ports. This industry generates substantial direct, indirect, and induced contributions – while cruising passengers provide the best word-of-mouth promotion of a destination.
Yet, as with every economic activity, unconceivable growth comes with the necessity of adjustments. To name a few, environmental, social, and cultural challenges emerged. The demands for extra space to serve the needs of the ever-bigger cruise vessels are not easily addressed. The transformation of cruise ships into moving villages whose guests prefer to stay onboard does not help either. Environmental and other potential externalities pressure destinations, affect social perceptions of cruises, and produce concerns regarding further growth. Societal pressures have emerged in several locations that have experienced major cruise growth within a short period. In specific destinations, local communities have started questioning the unqualified growth of cruising, which had long been taken as a de facto beneficial development. In several already developed cruise destinations, especially those popular with other forms of tourism, the increase of cruise activity is not the main goal: emphasis has shifted towards the potential adverse effects that existing and possible future growth of cruising might result in. Meanwhile, the presence of an interlinked trend, which is the growth of other tourism formats, produces additional tests on the carrying capacity of several coastal destinations.
The relationship between cruise activities and port cities has evolved. Sometimes, the symbiosis has been disturbed; it is no longer unanimously acknowledged as mutually beneficial. In other cases, conflicts and discontent have clouded the setting.
Fortunately, the alarm sounded soon and alerted many. Either individually or collectively, via their energetic global or regional associations, port cities, cruise ports, cruise lines, and related stakeholders have introduced various initiatives aiming to enhance or, when needed, re-establish this fruitful cohabitation.
Two leading associations have realised the importance of addressing the emerging challenges. These are AIVP-The International Association of Port Cities, which associates port cities and stakeholders worldwide, and MedCruise, the regional yet biggest association of cruise ports globally. In fact, these associations have moved one welcomed step further. Since 2021, they have formed a working group sharing good practices, engaging in meaningful discussions on ongoing initiatives, and shaping the path for expanding the efforts to host growing cruise activities in line with the needs of local ports and communities.
This publication is the fruit of this AIVP-MedCruise collaboration and an additional reconfirmation of the role of collective action in shaping the future of cruises in port cities and, not least, the future of port cities and ports per se.
Via several interviews, the reader will become acquainted with different initiatives from the members of these two associations regarding the relationship between port city and cruise. In addition, the perspectives of two pivotal international organisations in the maritime world, the organisation representing the managing entities of ports in Europe (European Sea Ports Organisation -ESPO) and the major organisation in the cruise world, Cruise Lines International Association-CLIA, which represents cruise lines and beyond, are documented.
Presenting these multidimensional efforts, it is profound that key stakeholders prioritise, either explicitly or implicitly, the realisation, increase, and respect of the carrying capacity of ports and destinations. Addressing the relevant operational, social, and environmental questions is endorsed today as a condition of cruise growth continuation.
The first pillar contains infrastructure-related initiatives. Investments, major or minor, by private and public actors, expand well beyond core infrastructure upgrades. They are also devoted to rediscovering urban waterfront developments, re-thinking public space planning and smart solutions for balancing activities that co-develop with cruise growth. Initiatives go as far as the migration of cruise ports, i.e., the reorganisation of the cruise activities to move them away from the city centre and the activation of secondary ports, with the aim being to avoid concentrated infrastructure. At the same time, a crucial parameter is the accessibility of the port to citizens, for instance, opening up the port space to the city when possible.
The second pillar aims to transform cruise operations and seek environmental sustainability. Several investments in innovation align with the target of sustainable port-city integration. Cities and ports are actively involved in the energy transition while seeking zero emissions for cruise port activities via investments such as onshore power supply. Discussions are ongoing on internalising the additional costs required to decarbonise the industry and securing the needed funds. Developing guidelines, e.g., an environmental charter for cruises, and rewarding positive actions via environmental certification, are part of these efforts.
An equally significant group of initiatives relates to setting the records right. A better understanding of the economic and social impacts of cruising is necessary; unfortunately, (un)substantiated perceptions seem to prevail too often for the moment. Studies demonstrating these impacts need to be accurate and unbiased, not dominated by perceptions, the initiator’s enthusiasm, or pessimism. The need goes well beyond economic impact studies and includes environmental analysis of key issues, such as monitoring emissions or the impact of cruises on air quality. This is not to say that such exercises do not exist or that cruise lines, ports, local authorities, or others do not seriously consider their findings. However, active stakeholders’ engagement is required to secure the credibility, authority, and systematic use of any findings, and concrete initiatives are essential. Thus, any related initiatives are appreciated.
A fourth pillar includes initiatives targeting dialogue and engagement. Multiple examples exist of efforts to streamline the cruise sector’s relations with local and national authorities and citizens. Emerging initiatives include effective partnerships, coordination, and cooperation among stakeholders near the port and occasionally distant locations where shore excursions occur. Apparently, different tools are available to coordinate the dialogue between cities, ports, and cruise operators on the future of cruises in port cities and to engage the local community and stakeholders in related actions. It remains to port cities and ports to decide the preferred ones based on local conditions.
Notably, dialogue and engagement are broader than the worthy presence of communication campaigns advancing the visibility of the benefits of cruise activities to local communities. An institutionalisation via establishing (local) cruise sustainability councils is also documented. This institutionalisation is particularly significant as decisions regarding the evolution of cruise activities at any given port and destination imply some long-term perspectives. For example, the themes of the (de)regulatory agendas are complex, with reference to perhaps even more complex regional, national and local governance systems. The list of difficult questions in some destinations includes the potential limitation to the scale and number of cruise activities in a given period. In others, the need for stakeholder engagement to stimulate reception services for cruisers dominates; spreading the benefits produced by cruise activities to a broader territory is core for the social and economic sustainability of any cruise growth. This institutionalisation is even more valuable when it goes hand-in-hand with citizens’ participation, including the engagement of unique communities, such as First Nations, whenever such communities exist, not least because the respect for local cultures should sustain.
These initiatives are of paramount interest, both locally and globally. Their beneficial nature must be understood not (as we tend to) as narrowly economic phenomena to facilitate those initiating them but as a conjuncture of technological, operational economic, cultural, and governance initiatives, all of which give the cohabitation of cruise activities and the hosting destinations their distinctive input. It is through these initiatives that the mutually beneficial nature of the symbiosis of port cities, ports, and cruise will be secured. Based on the examples presented in the forthcoming contributions, we can be confident that it will be. This is thus a timing publication. Hopefully, this is also the first of the many to come”.
First published in: AIVP & MedCruise (2024) “Cruise Port City Compass-– Global Cases Inspiring Sustainable Connections & Communities” pp. 15-19, Lisbon: AIVP & Spain: MedCruise.
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