This page was last updated May 4, 2008
Projects > Cruise Tourism
Having accurate information at hand is vital to making responsible development decisions. Yet CESD has discovered that tourism development leaders in Central America and the Caribbean have been making far-reaching decisions around the booming cruise tourism industry without sufficient information on its economic, environmental, or social impacts. Hundreds of millions of dollars of scarce public funds in these countries have been pumped into infrastructure, human resources, and other related development on the premise that attracting and retaining cruise tourism is in the countries’ best interest. To find out for sure, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Belize Tourism Board turned to CESD’s tourism knowledge and research expertise.
Since early 2005, CESD, in partnership with INCAE Business School of Costa Rica and Environmental Defense, has been taking a close look at cruise tourism in Belize, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Cost Maya, Mexico. Through thousands of cruise passenger surveys and several hundred interviews with those directly involved in the tourism industry, the Center has collected data on cruise tourism’s economic, social and environmental impacts. Careful analysis of firsthand views, combined with detailed review of the industry’s economic data, indicate a real need for improvement to the way cruise tourism is typically handled throughout the region.
The first of our academically-rigorous research, analysis, and policy recommendations were presented in August to government officials, private investors, and civil society in a widely-attended forum in Belize. A related event at our Washington DC office brought the debate to policy makers at a regional scale. Now that our Costa Rica and Honduras studies are completed, we will continue to bring key stakeholders together to facilitate information exchange. CESD’s cruise tourism impact studies provide the vital information policy makers and other stakeholders need to do the right thing.
Download the Costa Rica and Honduras Report in English (PDF)
Download the Costa Rica and Honduras Report in Spanish (PDF)
Download the Belize Report (PDF)
Download the Executive Summary (PDF)
Click on the links below to download the presentations from the forum held on August 18 at CESD's Washington office:
Introduction by Dr. William Durham, Part I (PDF)
Introduction by Dr. William Durham, Part II (PDF)
Introduction by Dr. William Durham, Part III (PDF)
Quantitative Results by Dr. Andrew Seidl and Lawrence Pratt (PDF)
Qualitative Results by Geraldine Slean (PDF)
Conclusions and Recommendations by Dr. Martha Honey (PDF)