Cruise Shipping Industry Impacts On Tourism In Jamaica Tourism Essay

CHAPTER 1

Introduction of the Cruise Shipping Industry and how it impacts on tourism in Jamaica

Tourism is the travel for leisure, business or recreational purposes outside of one’s norms for no more than a year. It has become the largest and fastest growing industry in the global economy. In 1871 an American sea captain called Lorenzo Dow Baker sailed into Port Antonio and took with him a cargo of coconuts and 1,450 stems of bananas. The profit that he made in Boston quickly made him realize the potential for the area because profits from the sale of the bananas were great he soon built a thriving export business, called “The Boston Fruit Company”, which later became the “United Fruit Company”. He owned 40 banana plantations and shipped three million bunches annually at its peak. He later saw the potential for tourism in Jamaica and established the first “cruise ship” to and from Port Antonio. So he started sailing visitors from the freezing New England states to Jamaica of Port Antonio in his empty banana boats. He then built Jamaica’s first hotel called the Titchfield Hotel in the early 1900s. In 1905 the hotel was 600 feet of open space and 400 rooms. It was said that no hotel on that side of the Atlantic Sea had provided with any of those amenities that minister so largely to the pleasure of travelers.

This began to prosper in Jamaica after World War I, when improved methods of transportation made it easier for people to get from one country to the other. Indications are that in the early 1920s the number of tourists visiting the island annually probably did not exceed a few thousand. By 1938 the figure had risen to 64,000, and in 1952 the number of arrivals almost doubled to over 104,000; in 1966 the number exceeded 345,000, and in 1970 nearly 415,000. In 1982 it exceeded 600,000. Since the 1987­88 season, the number of visitors has exceeded one million a year and has continued to grow, partly as a result of the great increase in the arrivals of cruise-ship passengers. Total arrivals for 1993 were 1,616,430.

The cruise shipping industry has many different impacts on the Jamaican tourism industry. It is one of the fastest growing sectors of the tourism industry, is becoming more popular to tourists and has a good potential for growth. In Jamaica the industry appeals to the mass market cruises. These are the cruises which are moderately priced and appeals to just about every type of person. The Caribbean is one of the most tourism dependent regions in the world with Jamaica being the most dependent as the main source of income which brings 25 percent of GDP. Impacts faced by the tourism industry vary from the environmental point of view, socio- cultural, and economical. As it relates to the environment Cruise ships represent less than 1% of the global merchant ¬‚eet yet it has been estimated that they are responsible for 25% of all waste generated by merchant vessels. This volume of waste produces pressures on the environment, particularly with respect to ship-generated waste disposal at home ports and ports of call. Other negative impacts include carrying capacity which is the maximum number of persons recommended on a particular eco-system before this result in depletion of its natural resources. Negative socio-cultural impacts faced locals include the use of resources which may cause conflicts, such as competition between tourist and local populations for the use of prime resources like water and energy because of the scarce supply. Another negative impact is economic inequality, between locals and tourists, where tourists normally spend more than they usually do at home, locals may seem to feel inferior to the tourists as they cannot do such large spending which may cause cultural clashes. Positive impacts are locals and tourists get to share their cultural differences with each other. Economical impacts of cruise shipping in Jamaica are the increase of foreign exchange earnings, profit and taxes, employment, externalities, terms of trade, and economies of scale. In addition, cruise tourism requires less infrastructure compared to stopover tourism at a tourist destination. Negative impacts on the tourism economy are leakages of tourist expenditure which present a problem to cruise destinations. Leakages consist of tourist revenue flowing out of Jamaica in which it was spent. The main sources of leakages are consumer goods (especially food and drink), repatriation of profits, overseas promotional expenses and paying back of external debt. If the income from tourism goes to people who reside outside of the country, instead of residents, the benefits of tourism are small. Cruise tourism has been criticized for imposing local costs without compensating benefits. Cruise passenger spending is directed towards shopping where local content is low.

Purpose of the study

Jamaica is a beautiful island but in the past decades the country has been transformed into a monumental tourist destination, and in the process destroying a few of the natural beauty along the way. In investigating the cruise shipping industry, I am hoping to find out the positive and the negative impacts of the cruise shipping industry on Jamaica and if it can sustain all the cruise ships seen coming in to the ports, considering that it is a booming business. I will also seek to find out if Jamaica will be able to accommodate all the people coming to the island at once through each port. Impacts such as; what impacts does cruise ships have on the ecological system of Jamaica? What are the ecological impacts on the ports visited? What are the effects on consolidation going on in the cruise industry?

1.2 Significance of the Study

The stakeholders that this study will benefit are the Jamaica Tourist Board, tourism students, the Cruise Shipping industry and the tourism sector as a whole, as this will assist them in making further decisions weighing the pros and the cons of this industry on not just its economic benefit but its impact on the environment.

1.3 Statement of the problem

If sewage from the cruise ships is released in the ports at each visit, then the marine ecosystem will be damaged and cause harm to living organisms.

If too many people visit the island at once from a cruise ship then the total amount of acceptable accommodation will be exceeded causing irreversible damages to Jamaica.

1.4 Research Questions

At the end of this end of this research the questions I hope to answer are:

What the plans are for the sewage control for each port in Jamaica?

Who mostly benefits from the tourists when they visit the government or the public (locals)?

If the criticism is true on whether or not has imposed local costs without compensating benefits.

If the locals are deprived from water and electricity when cruise ships are at the ports.

Definition of Terms

Cruise ship- If the locals are deprived from water and electricity when cruise ships are at the ports.

Consolidation- The process of maturation in some markets whereby smaller companies are acquired or run out of business, leaving only a few dominant players

Ecological impacts- Effect on living organism and their non-living (a biotic) environment due to human activity or natural phenomenon

Economical Impacts- Economy-wide (macroeconomic) effect on employment and incomes produced by a decision, event, or policy.

GDP- Gross Domestic Product

Leakages- leakage is the non-consumption uses of income, including saving, taxes, and imports

Ports- a city, town, or other place where ships load or unload

Port of call- A port visited by a cruise ship but where passengers do not begin or terminate their journey.

Socio-cultural impacts- social and cultural problems