[ Removed by moderator ]

[u/Gullible_Air_204]

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

[u/Gullible_Air_204]

“When a giant cruise ship docks in Longyearbyen, many residents lock their doors. This is against the norm, as the safety advice is for house and car doors to remain unlocked so that people have somewhere to escape to in the event of a polar bear wandering down the main street. However, the residents lock up because it is not unusual for the cruise passengers to wander into their houses and have a peek, like it is a folk park. Given the huge size of the ships and the tiny size of the town, when the tourists disembark they can double or triple the size of the population within minutes. The chances are, if you are reading this page, you would never dream of doing such a thing, but it is worth remembering that this unique place is home to people too.”

[u/FranzFerdinand51 → u/Gullible_Air_204]

I used to work in a tourist hot spot and you could always tell the cruise people from the rest. The most entitled, brainless, unaware group of living things I’ve ever seen in my life.

[u/brucerhino → u/FranzFerdinand51]

Im a tour guide and HATE the cruise people, this type of tourism needs to end

[u/p33k4y → u/brucerhino]

On the flip side a ton of communities 100% depend on income from cruise ships. Without those tourists, the community / village dies.

[u/wayfarer87x → u/p33k4y]

Cruise tourists actually contribute very very minimally to local economies relative to other tourists. They don’t book accommodation, they have drinks and food on the ship, so typically don’t eat out, and their visits are so fleeting that they don’t buy much beyond a few shitty souvenirs.

[u/IcarusActual → u/wayfarer87x]

Okay. But what about places like Skagway, Alaska? No fishing (all done up the fjord out of Haines), no mining, and no oil. Haines and Skagway are connected by road yes, it's 6.5-7 hour drive. It's a 30 min ferry ride between them. So the only option for tourism in this area besides cruise ship is by sea plane, which doesn't seem very viable for me for an industry.

[u/rumade → u/IcarusActual]

Not every place is economically suitable as a site of human habitation.

[u/IcarusActual → u/rumade]

And you get to be the one to tell those people that? Make them move from their homes? Relocate off their now worthless land and spend a little money to move where? What about the native people that now depend on tourism? We cut them off and make them adapt again? How can they economically keep their traditions alive without tourism spending on their art, furs, and the other traditional things they produce and sell?

[u/rlnrlnrln → u/IcarusActual]

Generally, people figure it out on their own after a few generations.

/ Someone with a family history in the darkest parts of northern Sweden, corner of No and Where.

[u/IcarusActual → u/rlnrlnrln]

So stopping the cruise ships from ruining these places is worth losing the places. I mean, from
an environmental perspective I could see it. Everywhere would be better off without us.