A presentation on the topic “What is the environmental impact of a cruise holiday?” has been posted on Slideshare having been originally delivered at the event “Contemporary Perspectives in Tourism and Hospitality Research: Policy, Practice and Performance”, which took place between 12-14 July 2015, University of Brighton.
The authors used Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) – a technique more commonly found in manufacturing and engineering – to examine the carbon footprint of a cruise holiday, and compare this to a conventional hotel stay. According to the authors, “cruising is the 21st century equivalent of wearing fur: luxurious, but morally questionable!”
In Brief
- 20.9 million people went on a cruise in 2012
- It takes approx 100,000 tonnes of materials to build a typical cruise ship
- The authors estimate that a cruise holiday is responsible for around 4 times as many CO2 emissions as an equivalent hotel-based holiday.
In Depth
- Watch the slideshare presentation.
- Read the author’s accompanying blog.
- Follow the Capacify twitter feed for updates on sustainable supply chains.
- Get exhuastive stats on environmental and social issues at the Cruise Junkie website.
- Download the report A Life Cycle Assessment of the Environmental Impact of Cruise Holidays for free.
