Reconsidering global mobility – distancing from mass cruise tourism in the aftermath of COVID-19

Abstract

The mass cruise tourism industry (MCTI) is inscribed in a neoliberal production of tourism space that promotes the economic, sociocultural and environmental marginalization of cruise destinations. With cruise tourism halted as a result of the COVID-19, but likely to resume in 2021, I question the relevance of this form of tourism and propose future development alternatives aligned with deglobalisation and degrowth of the industry. Power relations with destinations communities can be critiqued using the concepts of global mobility and local mobility to show that the former, imperative for the deployment of mass cruise tourism, is a weakness for the industry in a post-pandemic perspective of reduced mobility. Destinations must use the industry’s dependence on global mobility as leverage to transform the balance of power in their favor and promote local mobility. They must embrace radical solutions to take control of their territory to favor a transition from “Growth for development” to “Degrowth for liveability”. Host territories, relying on national and regional governance, should gradually ban or restrict the arrival of mega-cruise ships, implement policies that promote the development of a niche cruise tourism industry (NCTI) with small ships and develop a fleet controlled by local actors.

摘要

大众邮轮旅游业促进了邮轮目的地经济、社会文化和环境的边缘化, 被认为是一种新自由主义的旅游空间生产。因新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情而暂停的邮轮旅游可能会在2021年得以恢复, 但作者质疑了当前邮轮旅游业发展的意义, 并提出了与去全球化和去增长相一致的邮轮旅游业未来发展替代方案。全球流动性是发展大众邮轮旅游业的必要条件, 但亦可能成为该行业的一个弱点, 新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情大流行后流动性降低就明证了这一点, 可以使用全球流动性和当地流动性的概念来批判大众邮轮旅游业与目的地社区的权力关系。目的地社区要善于利用大众邮轮旅游业对全球流动性的依赖这一特点, 努力将权力平衡向有利于自己的方向调节, 并促进本地流动性的杠杆作用。同时, 目的地社区也必须采取彻底的解决方案来控制自己的领土, 进而实现从”增长换发展”向”缩减换宜居”的过渡。最后, 东道国还应依托国家和地区的治理, 逐步禁止或限制巨型邮轮的抵达, 实施旨在促进小型邮轮旅游业发展的政策, 并发展由当地参与者控制的船队。

Keywords:

• Mobility
• cruise
• mass tourism
• degrowth
• power relation
• globalisation
• destination
• COVID-19

关键词:

• 流动性
• 邮轮
• 大众旅游
• 去增长
• 权力关系
• 全球化
• 目的地
• 新型冠状病毒

Disclosures statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 If this remains the case, it would be an ironic reversal: up to now, the big cruise corporations have taken full advantage of their extraterritorial status to evade US tax laws, making them floating duty-free zones.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Luc Renaud

Luc Renaud is a postdoctoral fellow with the Groupe de recherche et d’intervention tourisme territoire et société (GRITTS) in the Department of Études urbaines et touristiques of the Université du Québec à Montréal. He has conducted research on issues of territorial appropriation and power relations in the Caribbean and Canada. His current research project focuses on high-intensity tourism and the production of tourism spaces.