WEBVTT - Will Some Port Cities Start Banning Cruise Ships? 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.480 Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:11.200 brain Stuff Lauren vogelbom here. It seems an unlikely move, 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:16.280 especially after an economically devastating pandemic, but ports cities around 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:20.079 the globe are snatching back their welcome mats, saying over 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:23.759 tourism from cruise ships is more harmful than beneficial to 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:29.560 their towns, and many citizens and small businesses agree. Residents 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:33.559 of Key West, Florida, voted in November to ban the 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:37.200 largest cruise ships from their port, plus limit the number 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:40.640 of passengers who can disembark daily to one five hundred, 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:45.560 a number less than half that of early Many say 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:48.760 the throngs of cruise ship tourists are causing low brow 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:53.040 souvenir shops to proliferate in the city's historic downtown, while 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:56.720 the massive ships wreak havoc offshore on fragile coral reefs 0:00:56.760 --> 0:00:59.840 and game fish. In the year that cruise ships have 0:00:59.880 --> 0:01:03.560 been grounded because of the COVID nineteen pandemic, locals say 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:07.440 the offshore waters have been cleaner, and some small business 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:10.560 owners say they aren't benefiting from the ships either, as 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:14.400 passengers typically aren't lingering long enough to patronize their restaurants 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:19.320 in or boutiques. On the Spanish island of Majorca, more 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:22.360 than twelve thousand people signed a petition to similarly limit 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:24.920 the number of cruise ships and passengers stopping in its 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:28.480 port of Palma, noting Palma is the second most polluted 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:31.920 ports city in Europe according to Transport and Environment, a 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:36.080 sustainable transport group. The petition also says that the throngs 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:39.319 of passengers that swarm through Palma's streets a creed a 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:43.959 theme park atmosphere that's causing residents to flee and over 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:47.600 In Venice, the Italian city famed for its canals, banned 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:50.720 large crews and container ships from the Venice Lagoon in 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:54.880 early in part because the ships pollute the environment and 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:59.000 a road the city's historic foundations. The UNESCO World Heritage 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:02.080 Committee applauded the move, which it had been pushing for since. 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:07.920 Yet not everyone agrees the cruise ships should sail away, 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:12.440 for cruising is big business. Some thirty million people boarded 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:16.120 cruise ships in twenty nineteen, according to the one State 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:18.920 of the Cruise Industry report prepared by the Cruise Lines 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:22.679 International Association, which is the world's largest Cruise Industry Trade 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:26.480 Association that was up from seventeen point eight million in 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:29.240 two thousand nine, a sixty eight percent increase over just 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:33.960 ten years. More impressively, these thirty million cruisers powered an 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:37.840 industry that employed one point two million people worldwide, while 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:40.840 pumping more than a hundred and fifty four billion dollars 0:02:40.919 --> 0:02:45.399 into the global economy. And despite the COVID nineteen pandemic 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:49.359 that initially proliferated in cruise ships, the report says vacationers 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:53.120 aren't worried about heading back out on the seas. Percent 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:55.800 of regular cruisers report that they're likely to go on 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.960 another one within the next few years, while an impressive 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:02.040 fifty eight percent of international vacationers who have never cruised 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:04.640 before are likely to do so, according to the report. 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:09.280 With so much business at stake, the Florida legislature pushed 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:13.320 back against Key West's cruise ship ban. In April one, 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:17.040 the legislature passed a transportation bill that included an amendment 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:20.520 taking away the port city's right to restrict cruise ship operations. 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:24.760 Backers argued that restricting cruise ships will eliminate jobs and 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:27.880 millions of dollars, and cruise related taxes for both Key 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:30.560 West and other regions of the state that also benefit 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.200 from the ships. The bill now goes to Governor Ron 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:38.480 De Santis for approval. In Southeast Alaska, where cruising is 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:41.000 a huge part of the economy, the absence of cruise 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:44.360 tourists during the pandemic shutdown resulted in a two hundred 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:47.240 and fifty million dollar hit to catch a can Alone, 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:50.480 a tiny port city with a population of just eight thousand, 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:54.640 five hundred and in Galveston, Texas, one of North America's 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:57.440 busiest home ports, at the only cruise port in the state. 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:01.560 COVID related losses were estimated at twenty three thousand jobs 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:06.520 and one point two billion dollars in direct spending. For 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:09.240 the article, this episode is based on how Stuff Works, 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:13.080 spoke with Heidi Allison, a travel consultant who thinks that 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:16.280 ultimately it's this kind of big money that will limit 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:19.760 the number of ports slamming shut their doors, especially after 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:23.920 the economic losses caused by COVID nineteen. She said, there 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:26.839 are so many ports of call, people in small businesses 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:29.760 that would love to have the cruise business. I'll bet 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.240 everyone will be happy to welcome back any kind of 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:36.360 business they can get. Allison also notes that the cruise 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:40.599 industry is working diligently to create balanced, sustainable tourism, but 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:44.200 it's not a quick fix. She said. The problem is 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:47.520 you have these big cruise ships that, like cars, weren't 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:50.679 built in the beginning to protect the environment. It takes 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:55.039 years and years to adapt and change, but change is 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:58.960 in the works. The Cruise Lines International Association's report says 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:01.360 the industry has in did at twenty three point five 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:05.320 billion dollars in ships with new technologies, advanced wastewater treatment 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:09.799 systems and cleaner fuels, plus is targeting a fort reduction 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:12.839 in carbon emissions by twenty thirty compared to two thousand 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:16.200 and eight. The industry is also working toward more shore 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:19.440 side electricity capability so that ships can turn off their 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:22.120 diesel engines when in port and tap into the city's 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:27.520 electrical grid instead. As nice as all of this sounds, 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:31.400 import cities and cruise critics say more is needed. The 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:35.560 association is partnering with locales like do Brevnick, Croatia, for example, 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:38.640 to better manage the arrival and departure of ships to 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:43.440 reduce overcrowding. In this UNESCO World heritage site, and Barcelona 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:46.279 is working hard to promote itself as a home port, 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:49.320 but it's one of Europe's hardest hit cities when it 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:53.560 comes to cruise, ship pollution and overcrowding. So Barcelona prefers 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:56.039 to welcome passengers who will hang out in town for 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:58.560 a few days rather than those who drop in just 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:03.000 for an hour two. That's partly because passengers spend more 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:06.479 money in home ports. The association's reports says that the 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:09.400 average passenger in twenty nineteen spent an average of a 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:12.520 hundred dollars in port cities visited during a cruise, but 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:15.320 a more substantial three hundred and eighty five dollars in 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:19.200 home ports visited before boarding a ship. Passengers staying in 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:21.680 a city for a few days are also less disruptive 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:24.400 to the area compared with the hundreds that often spill 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:27.040 out of a ship during a short port stop than 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:32.640 raced the same few destinations. Despite some valid issues brought 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:36.080 up by cruise critics, cruising is likely here to stay. 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:39.640 Millions love to sail the seas, and many others are 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:43.920 financially dependent on the industry. The key to creating harmony 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:47.360 between ships and ports cities As with so much in life, 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:56.880 is cooperation, care and respect. Today's episode is based on 0:06:56.920 --> 0:07:00.160 the article COVID nineteen or Not Many port Cities want 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:02.680 to band cruise ships on how stuff works dot Com. 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:05.839 Written by Melanie Red Zekie mc bannetts. Brain Stuff is 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:08.240 production by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:10.920 dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klein. For more 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:14.560 podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:16.400 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.