Communities Fight Back
Key West (shown in the image), Charleston, Venice, Barcelona, Sitka, Juneau, Seattle, Amsterdam, Monterey Bay, Marseille, Bar Harbor, Bergen, and other cities all have the same tragic story. The cruise industry exploited these communities to the breaking point and now they are fighting back.
growth for profit not people
Sitka, Alaska Cruise Ship Passenger Growth
Sitka, Alaska Cruise Ship Passenger Growth
Sitka, Alaska Cruise Ship Passenger Growth
Examples of Port Cities Fighting Back
Sitka, Alaska Cruise Ship Passenger Growth
Sitka, Alaska Cruise Ship Passenger Growth
The graph (left) now goes off the page. Sitka, a remote community in Alaska, now has over 560,000 tourists per year. The citizens voted down a cruise ship pier and the industry side-stepped the community and built a private pier - this also happened in Key West. Bar Harbor, Maine recently passed a law limiting tourism to 1000 passenger/day and have been fighting costly court challenges. These port cities are just 3 examples of the cruise industry putting profits ahead of the will of the local community. In a Sitka survey 63% of respondents said the cruise industry negatively impacted their lives. Both cities are fighting to limit the industry but have not yet been successful. In all three cities the fight continues.
In Yorktown, Virginia, the cruise industry lobbied local government and Commonwealth legislators outside of the public eye for funding for a cruise ship pier. After finding out, residents fought back through town educational meetings, website, and a petition.