Towards a Sustainable Cruise Tourism Industry: Organisational Communication, Tourist Behaviour and Community Well-being in the Ports of Greenland

Abstract:

The cruise industry is notorious for its questionable ethics and for its negative impact on local communitywell-being. Dramatic images of large cruise ships overshadowing small settlements (particularly in remoteand fragile destinations like Greenland) resonate with the public and make the impact of cruise tourism aregular news issue. This increasingly requires the cruise industry to be held to account. The purpose ofthis project is twofold; the first step is to map, document and understand the current communicativeinterface between cruise ship organisations, cruise ship passengers and local communities. The secondstep is to develop strategies for communication about sustainable tourism that result in tourist behaviourthat not only avoids negative impact on community well-being, but actually benefits both tourists and thelocal community. The project contributes to academia by linking the fields of CSR communication,behavioural economics and sustainable tourism, and thereby advancing emerging research on theapplication of behavioural economics to tourism.