Diller, N. (2025, February 2). “What is our limit?”: How cruise ships are impacting Alaska’s environment. USA TODAY. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2025/02/02/alaska-cruises-environmental-impacts-juneau-ketchikan/77543207007/
Alaska is dealing with an overtourism crisis caused by unregulated cruise ships. These vast ships not only bring financial problems, but most noticeably, environmental issues. The Alaskan cruise season now being extended by two months, places like Ketchikan are overrun with people and environmental hazards. Local businesses are required to operate like big corporations, often having to hire people to cope with foot traffic. Many residents agree that while visitors bring revenue to these places, they don’t often bring more than in the off season. More specifically, even though cruise ship passengers may spend more money in these destinations all together, most businesses are making less than they normally would because tourists spend less individually due to the volume of people in one concentrated area. Looking at the environmental aspect of cruises, places like Ketchikan are battling noise, air, and water pollution alongside wildlife disruption and waste generation. Bigger ships, as required by Alaska’s DEC, must remove wastewater under many permits and restrictions. However, smaller ships often do not follow the same constraints and are able to pollute the water. This has become a growing issue due to the amount of tourism Alaska has been receiving.
This article discusses the excess tourism that Alaska has been receiving from cruise ships and boat tours. Issues like overall pollution and land destruction are only getting worse, as it seems like cruises only get more popular with travelers. The solution, as most locals call it, is a balance of tourism and environmental protection (AKA ecotourism). Although cruise ships have been limited to certain docking areas and environmental policies like limiting food waste and noise pollution, stricter regulations need to be put into place for all tourist ships. Rules protecting the natural land must be enforced or else tourism will ruin the very towns that depend on it. Disruption of any local ordinance could potentially be a fined offence so cruise ships are more incentivized to follow them. More sustainable activities could also be promoted by cruises, like whale watching and hiking which not only prevent the environment from being disrupted but also help the local economy.
Wow this article really highlights how overtourism is creating both economic and environmental problems in Alaska. It’s interesting that the large crowds can hurt local businesses and cause pollution and land damage. Stricter regulations and promoting sustainable activities could help protect the local area. How could Alaska encourage cruise companies to follow stricter environmental rules without losing tourism revenue?
I agree that the excess amount of tourism in Alaska is very negative and harmful to the surrounding areas. Not only is it bad for the Alaskan people, but you point out how the ships pollute the local environment in many different ways, such as with noise, food, and water pollution. While I think ecotourism is a great way to spread awareness and get people to want to protect the environment more, it can’t have a big negative effect on the local ecosystems, as seen in this example. Do you think that it would just be better to stop all cruises in Alaska, or should we just impose more regulations for the ships?
I don’t think we should ban all cruise ships in Alaska as they bring in business for local communities. However, I do think we should impose more regulations for the ships and limit the amount of ships that are able to dock in these small towns.