The Environmental and Social Impacts of the Cruise Line Industry

This study examines the environmental and social impacts of the cruise line industry, including pollution and job creation. Recommendations for sustainable practices are provided.

The Environmental and Social Impacts of the Cruise Line Industry

Introduction
The cruise line industry is a very growing segment in both the tourism and travel industry. There
is a tremendous increase in the number of passengers that use cruise line to make their traveling
very easy and convenient. According to Carić (2016), this tremendous increase of cruise
passengers has posed a greater impact in different areas: economic, environmental, socio-cultural
and political. Consumer preference for cruising tremendously continues to grow at a very high
rate despite the cost of living and an increase in petroleum products. High turnout rate for cruise
passengers has seen the local government authorities in investing a lot of resources in improving
the quality of their infrastructure in order to attend mass arrivals of cruise line passengers. Apart
from cruise lines, we have other key players that play a big role in the cruise industry. These key
players include local government, population, and civil society organizations (Dawson, 2014).
Some studies show that cruise line passenger's expenditure is higher than that of tourist's
expenditure. And this may be the reason why countries that benefit from this segment
continuously carries frequent surveys on cruise passenger's expenditure.
Statement purpose
The primary aim of this study paper is to provide an insight into the environmental and social
impacts of the cruise line industry and to provide feasible recommendations. Cruise line industry
is one of the most growing industry in recreation and travel industry (Hillier, 2016). It is
estimated that over the last five years, coastal regions have benefited from this industry both
economically and financially. Foreign revenue generated from these regions is quite high.
Contrary to this, the cruise line industry has also posted negative impacts on the environment of
operation. Hazardousemissions come out from these machines that pollute the environment.
Therefore the cruise line industry has both negative and positive impacts on; socio-cultural,

political, economic and environmental setup. This dissertation will, therefore, try to examine the
environmental and social impacts of the cruise line industry (Wallimann, 2014)
The study will try to answer the research question on how environmental and social factors
influences the cruise line industry. Test of a hypothesis is also very significant in determining the
effects of these factors on the cruise line industry. The study involves investigation of the
environmental and social factors that affect the cruise industry either positively or negatively.
According to Lasserre (2015), environmental and social impacts are extracted from historical and
current data. Very little research that has been conducted in past regarding the effects of
environmental and social factors on the cruise line industry. Therefore, there is a need to conduct
numerous research in order to identify the environmental and social impacts of the cruise line
industry.
Environmental impacts
Cruise line industry has various negative environmental impacts. These environmental
impacts are factored out to factors that pose negative effects on the environment. According to
Font (2016),Cruise ships emit various waste streams including hazardous gases that are
discharged to the marine environment. These waste materials include sewage, harmful wastes,
toxic gases, ballast water, and other solid wastes. They also cause air and water pollution through
emission of these toxic products (Maragkogianni, 2015). Each of the above toxic products has its
own environmental effect which may include but not limited to water pollution, air pollution, and
soil pollution.
a) Toxic gases

When these gases are released to the environment they cause breathing complexities in the
breathing system of the living organisms and also human beings. Some of these toxic gases have
a long term effect that affects the genetic composition of many generations. Also, some of these
gases cause global warming effect which is biologically dangerous to all living organisms.
According to Lam (2015), in marine set up, when these gases are discharged in water they
negatively affect the livelihood of the living animals and organisms that live in water. They even
cause the clogging of the breathing system of these organisms and eventually these living
creatures die. Therefore proper maintenance of the cruise ships should be adhered to and also the
right petroleum products that have minimal effect on air pollution should be used in filling these
cruise ships (Baldi,2016).
b) Sewage
Sewages contain solid wastes that clog the breathing system of the living creatures that live in
water. The sewage also produces a bad smell that causes air pollution. When these sewages are
not properly drained they can cause waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid making the
areas around the sewerage unconducive for human inhabiting (Brynolf,2016). Once someone
contract these waterborne diseases is likely to spend a considerable amount of funds on catering
for medical bills and deaths can also occur wiping out the breadwinners form the family thus,
increasing the number oforphans in that given locality.According to Font (2016), in order to
reduce the risk of this hazardous phenomenon, we need to establish proper drainage areas where
these sewages are drained and also minimize the sources of leakages of such dirty products.
Also, proper maintenance of the cruise ships should be maintained and avoid massive
contamination of water in the marine environment.
c) Global warming effect

Due to the emission of these toxic gases to the air, a condition called global warming effect
arises. This makes temperatures to escalate so high beyond normal limits making inhabited
sections of environment unconducive for the survival of both aquatic and land-living organisms.
According to Comfort(2016), the global warming effect is a very dangerous environmental threat
to all living organisms. Besides, the increasing temperatures emanating from gases emitted by
cruise industry leas to the melting of ice in the polar region and the water flowing into the sea
leading to hiked sea level. Since the number of cruise ships are tremendously increasing on daily
basis, therefore petroleum products used should be environmentally friendly in order to curb this
phenomenon from occurring (Têtu, 2015)
Social impacts
According to Jones(2016), the cruise line industry is a fast-growing area in the recreation and
travel industry. Being a growing industry it has some social impacts both negative and positive to
any country that is a beneficiary of this industry. These factors influence the social life of both
the cruise passengers' and the residents in any given country that has cruise line industry. The
social factors may be defined as those factors that affect the ways of living of different people in
any given society. These factors may include things such as interactions of different people,
clans, and communities (Stewart, 2015). As a result of this new growing segment in recreation
and travel industry, many things have changed in the social lives of the residents and also the
cruise line passengers. This section therefore, discusses some of these social impacts of the
cruise line industry.
a) Interactions

Cruise line industry is a growing industry and has increased the interaction levels between
different groups of people. Through the interaction of foreigners who travel using the cruise line
ships and the locals give them an opportunity to interact and explore. According to Johnston
(2014), people learn from abroad and therefore develop new ideas and new methods of doing
things. And also due to the movement of some people from country to another, increase in
intermarriages between people different cultural values have taken place, thus facilitation the
sharing of such values between the involved parties. According to Svensson (2016),owing to the
same living styles such as dressing mode, eating habits among others has taken place in many
parts of the world. Besides, the interaction between people from different denominations has also
facilitated the spread of gospel and change in religious belief. People are also able to develop a
new culture and morals learned from foreigners. Generally, we can conclude that these new
levels of interactions have given rise to innovations and creativity.
b) Creation of jobs
Cruise line companies become in need of workforce and therefore they employ the locals.
Some people secure permanent jobs where now they can live a good life and also change the
livelihood of their siblings (Granhag, 2016). In addition, the issues of jobless situation facilitated
by geographical difference have been solved by cruise line by making it possible for people
seeking for job opportunities to move from their native countries and bridge workforce gap in a
foreign country (Andersson, 2014). The staff in cruise industry gain sufficient remuneration
which can allow them to reinvest in other sectors of the economy such as starting a retail shop
which in turn becomes a job opening for another person who would otherwise be jobless thus,
improving the standard of living such third party. These job openings help even in the growth of
the economy since both the cruise line companies and the employees are taxed by the local

government. According to Comfort(2016), the revenue generated by the government is used in
infrastructure development and also in economic empowerment.
Conclusion
This essay review has reviewed the environmental and social impacts of cruise line
operations. As the cruise line industry is growing much faster, some strategies have been
designed to monitor the operations of the cruise line companies. More authors suggest that cruise
line operations pose many negative environmental effects on the economy of many countries.
Different authors also suggest that effective mechanisms should be deployed in cruise line
petroleum products in order to minimize the level of air pollution (Papaefthimiou, 2015). This
dissertation has also reviewed the social impacts of the cruise line industry. Authors argue that
the cruise line industry has positively impacted the social life of many people. For instance, the
creation of job opportunities by these cruise line companies has greatly improved the living
standards of many people who are beneficiaries of the opportunities. According to Bonilla
(2016), Statistics show that little research has been done on environmental and social impacts of
the cruise line industry, therefore there is need of conducting more research in this growing
industry.

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