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The 2020 State of the Cruise Industry report takes an in-depth look at the impact of cruising and the trends
we are witnessing across the industry, including environmental sustainability, responsible tourism and unique passenger offerings.

This quick start guide provides an easy-to-follow action plan on carbon reduction and offsetting, with practical examples and tips for other tourism businesses to follow.

Cruise tourism research has developed exponentially during the past decades. Global tourism activity in general and cruises in particular are concentrated in coastal areas and represent a dominant part of the so-called ‘blue economy’. Within this context, the public debate surrounding the impact of cruise tourism on port communities reflects a narrative of unsustainable growth, environmental pollution and negative globalization-related symbolism. Yet, the relatively small size of the cruise sector and the over-focus on emissions arguably misrepresents the overall impact and potential of this tourism domain for portside communities, economies and ecosystems. Cruise-related scientific research, as probably expected, offers a much more refined and holistic picture, transcending the somewhat populist public debate on this matter. Based on a systematic literature review examining cruise-related papers published between 1983 and 2009, Papathanassis and Beckmann (2011) Annals of Tourism Research 38(1), 153–174, identified 145 papers, which were subsequently subjected to a metadata- and a thematic-analysis.

Approximately, a quarter of them addressed the environmental-, social- and economic impacts of cruising on coastal regions. A decade later, and following an analogous methodological approach, a total of 305 cruise research papers, published between 2012 and 2022, yielded 161 relevant papers, subjected to the same coding scheme and thematically compared to previous findings. The subsequent thematic analysis, revealed a comprehensive set of issues, opportunities and challenges cruise tourism poses to coastal areas. Following a critical discussion of past developments and their trajectory, a future research and action agenda is proposed.

This One Planet guide provides information on the impacts of the environment, the rationale for good practice and suggestions on how to reduce the impacts related to boat operation, maintenance and during marine excursions. A self-assessment checklist is inserted to promote among marine recreation providers the practice of evaluating environmental performance.

This Seychelles Research Journal article explores the focus on Blue Economy goals in the Indian Ocean, examines the role that law can play in supporting them, and highlights key areas for future research.

This One Planet Network action plan provides realistic and achievable objectives aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve resource efficiency within the Mauritius accommodation sector and its value chain.

Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) is a key element of these efforts, yet it rarely includes a comprehensive analysis of the economic impact that interventions will have on the ocean and its wide range of stakeholders. This paper argues that adding robust economic analysis to the MSP process will increase buy-in, foster livelihoods, attract finance, and advance the long-term Blue Economy objective of protecting the ocean’s underlying resources and ecosystems.

The primary goal of this study is to investigate the present coastal management plans for blue carbon ecosystem management strategies using content analysis of the local plans of select municipalities in the Philippines. The analysis generated eight (8) clusters based on keywords focusing on mangrove and seagrass ecosystems, namely: ecological profile, ecosystem services, carbon sequestration, tourism, natural threats, anthropogenic threats, laws, policies, & ordinances, and management activities. The results of this study can serve as a benchmark for local policy-makers in updating their present management plans particularly in branching their focus on integrated management of seagrass ecosystems and advancing technical capacity and knowledge on blue carbon ecosystems.

This CRC report presents a design and assessment model to assist tourism operators to manage low-impact nature-based sustainable tourism facilities in remote areas. Derived by studies conducted in Australia and informed by indigenous groups, the report provides design guidelines for facility infrastructure, and a framework for environmentally sustainable technology for energy, water and waste management systems.

The Better Travel & Tourism, Better World Report was produced by Systemiq in partnership with the Sustainable Tourism Global Centre, and in consultation with members of the travel and tourism (T&T) industry to explore how travel and tourism could accelerate its transition to a net-zero, nature and community-positive future. The work received invaluable, extensive inputs from individual industry players as well as from industry aggregators, allowing Systemiq to develop an independent vision, objective fact-base and prioritized action plan for the industry. The Better Travel & Tourism, Better World report is part of a series of system transformation reports produced by Systemiq, including Better Business, Better World and Better Finance, Better Built Environment.