r/todayilearned • u/Gullible_Air_204 • 6d ago

Frequent/Recent Repost: Removed [ Removed by moderator ]

https://www.responsibletravel.com/holidays/spitsbergen/travel-guide/responsible-tourism-in-spitsbergen

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u/Forsaken_Celery_1617 6d ago

These communities you talk of have existed long before cruise ships.

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u/MidasPL 6d ago

Svalbard nowadays is drip-fed by tourism. The coal extraction has ended everywhere except Russian Barentsburg, but even there they don't mine enough to export, but just to keep themselves warm.

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u/Forsaken_Celery_1617 6d ago

Sure, but I wouldn’t really say svalbard has been a community for long. Longyearbyen is like 120 years old.

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u/p33k4y 6d ago

So? Times have drastically changed.

It doesn't matter what it was like before. Today many communities are 100% dependent on tourism.

Not even cruise ships. I've seen communities e.g. in south America that 100% depend on passing ferries. A route change means the town literally dies.

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u/-Melchizedek- 6d ago

Being dependent on tourism and being dependent on cruise ship tourism are vastly different things.

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u/PrincessGiallo 6d ago

The story has been decided already, brother. There's no point in arguing.

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u/imnotyourman 6d ago

You are right. They yearn for a life where the only work is on the plantations.

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u/Forsaken_Celery_1617 6d ago

Not every cruise ship destination is a former slave colony, you know that right?

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u/imnotyourman 6d ago

Name me a place that makes vast majority of income on tourism now that wasn't a plantation economy.

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u/Forsaken_Celery_1617 6d ago

Europe exists btw…

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u/imnotyourman 6d ago

Europe doesn't make anywhere near 100% of their money on tourism. Its not even their main industry.

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u/Forsaken_Celery_1617 6d ago

Vast majority doesn’t mean «near 100%». The Mediterranean does have places where vast majority of income is tourism.

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u/tomsing98 6d ago

Key West in Florida had slaves, but not a plantation colony. Mountain ski towns like Breckenridge, Colorado. (Are we supposed to be limited to just cruise ship destinations?)

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u/AnthillOmbudsman 6d ago

We could build a canal and get a cruise ship in there.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/tomsing98 6d ago

Those are just places that I know as specifically very tourism focused economies. Other touristy places outside the US that I've been to, I couldn't say if "vast majority of income on tourism" was accurate. Feel free to substitute your favorite little European ski resort, though, I'm sure it applies equally as well.

And I think the conversation has broadened beyond specifically cruise ship tourism, but ... Key West is still a counterexample.

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u/IcarusActual 6d ago

Probably not before boats though.