engleski

Cruise Ship Tourism and Heritage Cities in the Adriatic : The Adverse Impact on Urban Identity, Public Space, and Local Flows

Cruise ship tourism has in recent years proven to be the pinnacle of exploitation of the local resources. Its critics claim that it wears down the local infrastructure & makes use of the local sights without even adequate financial remuneration, as the profits are for the most part made based on the consumption on the ship itself. On the other hand, this type of tourism has had devastating effects on the fabric of local life, turning them into stage sets for the tourists & depriving them not only of the population living in situ but also of the more “sustainable” types of tourists. The presentation outlines & discusses the effects of cruise ship tourism on both the natural & social environment of selected urban locations in the Adriatic Sea. It is argued that the combined effect of this kind of drastically “unsustainable” tourism is especially visible in the example of the area under discussion. Namely, on the one hand, the Adriatic Sea is a closed, Mediterranean basin sea with a slow change of water. As such, its environmental sensitivity to pollution is beyond average. On the other hand, it is a very rich area in terms of cultural heritage, as evidenced by a large number of UNESCO-protected heritage sites. Given the long urban tradition & specific cultural profile of the Mediterranean cities, it is argued that the culturally negative impact of cruise ship tourism can be illustrated particularly well on the example of the Adriatic harbor cities included on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Following a brief introduction on the nature and general effects of cruise ship tourism on natural, social and cultural environment, the particular adverse effects on heritage cities will be illustrated by examples relating to traffic congestion (Dubrovnik), changing the nature of urban flows adversely affecting the sense of urban identity (Split) & the adverse effect on the symbolic capital of a prominent public space (Venice).

cruise tourism; globalization; heritage cities; deterritorialization

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