Tesla enters cruise ship market despite global protests against tourists & cruisers.
Tourism has hit a problem. Some destination’s success in attracting tourists is due to commercial advertising promotion and support from tax incentives. Many have now got what they wished for and tourism has flourished since the now historic and distant past lockdown. So much so, that properties are being gulped up by Air BnB and locals cannot find accommodation even if they could afford it.
Places like Santorini have a real problem with their success as day-trippers and night-time partygoers flock to their island. The problem escalates when big hoteliers and businesses begin to purchase their coastal gems and keep the tourists in their grip for as many hours of their holiday as possible, keeping the tourist dollar and not allowing it into the local community. The influx of all-inclusive cruise tourists who do not pay room tax, nor wish to pay to eat or even drink at the destination has further increased the problem. Now destinations have the targeted success that they craved, overcrowding on their bus services has hit locals hard, with support workers and teachers finding it hard to rent affordable accommodation Newton’s Law of Physics says, to every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Bruges has just cancelled all advertising at their local airports for internal day trippers and reduced the number and size of cruise ships that can dock. The mass organised demonstrations from Barcelona to the Canary Islands may be by the younger members of society about the wealthy older tourists whose pensions outearn their income ability, and reflect a problem with an ageing society in general that is not passing on its wealth, but the 2024 effect is a shock to tourists. The knock-on effect for tourists, using an industry that plans, books ports and budgets and sells its product two and three years ahead is that some ports, now demanding fees per head for tourists entering become loss-making to the cruise operator. Some ports may become like Amsterdam, where no ship wishes to afford to go.
There will be those who suffer. Another major change is eco-green. While cruise ships try to be as efficient and green as possible, they are also constantly facing changing requirements. Going electric and powered by battery has started. Havila hit a benchmark that has already moved with Tesla entering the cruise market. The funnels on his ships look like sails of solar panels that retract into the ship. Who expected the take-up of electric cars to be so fast? That the computer would aid drivers faster than legislators could react, and so quick the railway industry did not have time to be embarrassed? But as we expect others to be tolerant of our intolerance, should we stop to consider whether the protestor’s annoyance at others’ enjoyment is not itself a show of failed greed. Local hoteliers must collect room tax from their guests to pay the local council for roads, pathways, transport and emergency services. Still, they have failed to look outside their box and help design a local tax for all visitors that would protect their environment. Where is Voltaire when we need him?
