Contemporary issues in cruise tourism PDF

Running Head: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN CRUISE TOURISM 1
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Cruise tourism is the rapid growing division of the holiday tourism industry and can contribute
immensely to a journey's end economy.
Tourism in general has its own issues and some are beyond the industry leader’s control.
Tourism business is extremely taxed especially on the part of the travelers in terms of a rental
car, an airline ticket and a hotel room which is significant to a local economy. The tourism
industry is highly dependent on the cost fuel. A rise in the price of fuel will lead to many tourists
to adjust their spending to accommodate the additional charges in fuel or even reduce the length
of their holiday (Radic, 2017).
Globalization has led to standardization of the tourism industry meaning the same product is
offered worldwide which is a challenge to a tourist who wants to have an experience that is
unique and different which makes tourism exciting. Security is also a challenge in the tourism
industry due to lack of contact with the local police department. There is lack of tourism oriented
police officers in most of all of the police departments. Very few local governments provide
security agencies with the manpower and economic resources to protect the visitor and tourism
facilities (Benur & Bramwell, 2015).
The new world of telecommunication has changed the tourism industry and it means that tourists
are no longer just on vacation instead they expect to be connected to business and family at all
times. This also means that business meetings may be conducted online or through satellite
instead of face to face and this eliminates the need of business tours hence it affects tourism in a
big way. Safety is also a concern in the tourism industry (Del Chiappa, Lorenzo-Romero &
Gallarza, 2016).

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The current population is aging especially the baby boom population are refusing to slow down
by engaging in all sorts of physical activities. This means that tourism officials will have to
provide mobile medical units and readily available pharmacy to cater for their safety (Visser,
2017).
Health issues such as pandemics can also affect the tourism industry. Pandemic scare coupled
with media stories can cause an immense damage to the viability of tourism. Also the public can
connect a health event with a potential act of terrorism which can lead to a massive drop in
tourism numbers. Political conditions of a country is a challenge for the tourism industry (De
Grosbois, 2016).
A complicated and confusing political reality is upon us whereby governments claim they
support tourism yet visa restrictions continues to become more complicated. There is the threat
of street demonstrations, acts of terrorism, politically motivated riots and wars in every country
which damages the country’s publicity and tourism (Van bets, Lamers & Tatenhove, 2017).
Travel stress is also a challenge brought about by poor travel conditions. Travel is no longer
stress free and air travel in particular, is increasingly becoming difficult. Greater restrictions has
led to an increase in prices. Consequently, there is the issue of limited personnel or poor
customer service which leads to the decline of the tourism industry (Udunuwara & Sanders,
2016).
Cruise tourism can offer opportunities to developing countries with harbor facilities and an
interesting hinterland as cruise lines are looking for new destinations. However, there is barriers
as cruise tourism requires a lot of investment in accessibility and competition is aggressive
(Dawson, Stewart, Johnston & Lemieux, 2016).