Challenges for European Tourist-City-Ports: Strategies for a Sustainable Coexistence in the Cruise Post-COVID Context

María J Andrade,João Pedro Costa,Eduardo Jiménez-Morales

doi:10.3390/land10111269

María J Andrade, João Pedro Costa + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/land10111269

Copy DOI

Abstract

In recent years, cruise tourism has increased the negative effects caused by touristification in many European port cities. Despite this, these cities are in a great competition to be a destination, a tourist-port. Cruise tourism has come to stay, and a steady growth can be expected in a post-COVID-19 scenario, but at what cost? The tourist-port demands highly effective planning answers occurring simultaneously, and the global pandemic crisis provides a buffer of time to seek best practices, combining the expected economical (re)development with social, environmental, and cultural sustainability. This paper proposes five different strategies that contribute to finding a sustainable coexistence between tourist ports and their cities. To this end, trans-scalar strategies developed in previous research from different disciplines have been studied and categorized in a port-city context, in order to provide a holistic viewpoint on the measures carried out to maximize the benefits and limit the negative impacts of cruise tourism on cities.

Highlights

The Touristification Phenomenon in the Contemporary Port-CityMany European port cities have invested for decades in transforming their waterfronts and in revitalizing their historic centers, becoming extremely attractive cities that compete in a worldwide tourist destination ranking [1,2,3]
As Rosa et al [6] explain in their research about the territorial imbalance of the cruising activity in the main Mediterranean port destinations, the construction of cruise terminals (CTs) has improved the value of the nearby historic centers [8], with the consequent upgrading of the destination’s cultural resources [9]
Since cruise tourism is here to stay, it is increasingly necessary to propose a series of policies that can maximize the benefits of cruise ship tourism while mitigating its negative impact, letting visitors and inhabitants coexist, which in turn allows for the long-term viability of both tourism and local activity

Summary

Introduction

The Touristification Phenomenon in the Contemporary Port-CityMany European port cities have invested for decades in transforming their waterfronts and in revitalizing their historic centers, becoming extremely attractive cities that compete in a worldwide tourist destination ranking [1,2,3]. For instance Venice or Barcelona, are home ports to numerous shipping companies Others, such as Malaga, Lisbon, Genoa, or Naples, have focused their efforts on increasing cultural provision and have fought, and continue to fight, to be ports on the main cruise routes, aspiring to become home ports, a quality that greatly increases the local economy’s benefit [4,5,6,7]. Marketing strategies based on attracting a higher number of cruise passengers are being carried out by these cities. In this regard, ever larger cruise ships docking and the incipient growth of low-cost tourism have led to these European port cities being invaded by mass-tourism that menaces their identity and makes the phenomenon of touristification worse [10,11,12]

Objectives

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion