ABSTRACT
As the reality of human impact on the natural environment has become widely acknowledged, debate has turned to policies required to mitigate and adapt to these impacts. Since cruise tourism is a notably environmentally damaging human practice, the industry provides an informative and important case through which these debates can be investigated. This chapter aims to contribute to the understanding of theoretical, social, and practical implications of cruise tourism into the future. Key to this is to question if the industry can become sustainable through self- or externally imposed regulation, or if its growth should be dissuaded altogether. This chapter addresses these issues by offering a description of the historical growth of the industry and future trajectories, then providing a summary of its environmental impacts, and by discussing technological and policy proposals for impact mitigation.
