The cruise industry is booming - but many cities are now prohibiting the giant ships from docking. That is because, in addition to the noise created by too many tourists, they also cause a lot of environmental damage and CO2 emissions. What can be done about it?
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00:00 Cruise control. That's what some European cities are seeking.
00:05 Venice and Barcelona are among the popular tourist destinations
00:09 which have limited larger passenger vessels from docking downtown
00:13 in an effort to reduce environmental damage and crowding of city centers.
00:17 The NGO Transport and Environment released a study in June
00:21 which says pollution from the cruise industry is increasing overall in Europe,
00:26 noting that cities which have blocked ships are seeing ecological benefits.
00:31 A huge surprise was that in 2019, the most polluted cruise ship city was Venice
00:38 and in 2022 it fell below the 40th place.
00:43 And this was due indeed to a ban that made it a lot more challenging
00:48 for big cruise ships to dock there.
00:50 Other port cities are looking at such examples.
00:53 A study by the Tourist Board of the Dutch-speaking area of Belgium, Visit Flanders,
00:58 polled residents of Antwerp, Bruges and Ghent about cruise traffic
01:02 and found that more than half of residents in each city
01:05 believe the ships have a negative impact on their environment.
01:09 Marja Nauwert is the sustainability manager for Visit Flanders and led the study.
01:14 We met her at her office in Antwerp,
01:16 from which you can see a docked cruise ship from her window way across town.
01:20 She said residents' major concern was emissions.
01:23 So the ship is right there.
01:26 You can see it the whole time.
01:29 Air quality was really the most important one,
01:32 especially also here in Antwerp where there is a low emission zone.
01:36 That has been mentioned a lot.
01:38 So people state we live in a low emission zone,
01:42 but at the same time there is a ship docking which runs on very heavy fuel.
01:49 In Belgium, the opposition is highest in Bruges,
01:52 even though those ships dock almost 15 kilometers away from the city.
01:56 The most recent survey finds more than 70% of Bruges residents want fewer cruise passengers to visit.
02:03 Good morning in Antwerp and welcome in Antwerp.
02:06 The principle of free tour is very easy.
02:08 In Antwerp, however, more residents are turning in favor of cruise tourism.
02:13 They like tourists here and it's not too much.
02:15 I think in some cities like in Venice there are too many tourists, but here it's normal.
02:22 For visitors, the proximity of the cruise terminal to the old town is a huge plus.
02:27 My first visit here and I'm already impressed by the wonderful buildings.
02:32 We've also visited Hamburg and that was a long way from the center.
02:37 So this is much better in my opinion to be off the ship in the center.
02:43 And away we go, more time in the city.
02:46 Wonderful, thank you.
02:49 Antwerp Vice Mayor for Mobility, Kuen Kennis, echoes that enthusiasm for the accessibility
02:56 provided by the downtown terminal, which has just been renovated under his watch.
03:01 They walk straight in the city, they don't need buses, they don't need extra transport for visiting the city.
03:09 And that's also very important because that's a lot less invasive in our city.
03:16 Kennis says the visitors are a crucial source of income for Antwerp.
03:20 It's 60, 70 euro a day that they live in the city.
03:25 That's important for the city, it brings prosperity for the city.
03:29 The Visit Flanders research puts the average daily amount spent by an ocean cruise passenger
03:34 at just 40 euros per day, going up to 66 euros for luxury passengers.
03:39 That's largely because the ships themselves provide meals and entertainment, explains Maria Nauwelaert.
03:45 We saw that cruise passengers stay a bit less than five hours on average in the destination that they visit.
03:55 And if that's true now, how can port cities compete with ships like Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas setting sail?
04:04 The ship itself becomes the destination.
04:07 Built in Finland by Maier Turku and launching from Florida in January,
04:11 the largest cruise ship in the world offers more than 20 restaurants, seven swimming pools
04:16 and endless entertainment options to the potentially 7,600 people on board.
04:22 Maier Turku CEO Tim Maier says this all-inclusiveness also offers the opportunity to be more environmentally conscious.
04:31 We have everything on board and it's all one system and we are able to optimize the energy consumption, for example.
04:37 Every time we are building a prototype, this time we were able to reduce per head, so to say per passenger, 20% of the energy consumption.
04:47 Icon of the Seas will be powered using LNG and fuel cell technology.
04:52 It is also equipped to connect to electricity for its power needs when docked.
04:57 That will be mandatory in European ports from the year 2030.
05:01 The reason Europe had to make it compulsory is that until now there was no demand from cruise ships to connect to shore-side electricity.
05:12 And the reason is simple, it's because it's a lot cheaper to power all your hotels and swimming pools by burning a dirty fuel
05:20 rather than to buy the electricity from the port.
05:23 Some industry leaders are calling for carbon-neutral cruising by the year 2050.
05:28 Between now and then, though, cities will have to make difficult decisions about who they will allow to pay visits to their ports
05:36 and what that will cost them.
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