ACADEMIA Letters Hitting the reset button for post-COVID-19 cruise tourism: The case of Akaroa, Aotearoa New Zealand Michael Lück, Auckland University of Technology Sabrina Seeler Aleksander Radic Introduction Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020, cruise tourism was often hailed as the fastestgrowing sector within the tourism industry (Radic, 2019). The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), representing 55 cruise lines and 95% of the global cruise capacity, predicted that 32 million passengers would take a cruise in 2020 (CLIA, 2019). With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns and global travel restrictions brought the travel industry to a standstill, meaning also that the phenomenal growth of the cruise industry has abruptly ground to a halt. Prior to the halt of cruises, the industry had come under fire for a plethora of negative impacts on the environment, host communities, and their own workforce (MacNeill & Wozniak, 2018; Jordan et al., 2020; Radic et al., 2020). In particular, many observers attributed the phenomenon of overtourism, for example, in Barcelona and Venice, at least in part to the cruise lines (Asero & Skonierczny, 2018; Ruiz-Guerra et al., 2019). While in the spotlight of the media, these popular cities were not the only places that experienced a heavy burden on the local communities due to the large influx of cruise passengers in pre COVID19 tourism. For example, the small Alaskan town of Skagway has a population of just over 1,000, but receives around 10,000 daily cruise passengers in the short summer cruise season each year (Urken, 2019). The tiny town of Akaroa on New Zealand’s South Island, population 625, has been similarly affected. Here, over 200,000 visitors and 81,000 crew arrived Academia Letters, February 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Michael Lück, mlueck@aut.ac.nz Citation: Lück, M., Seeler, S., Radic, A. (2021). Hitting the reset button for post-COVID-19 cruise tourism: The case of Akaroa, Aotearoa New Zealand. Academia Letters, Article 219. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL219. 1 on 91 ship visits in the 2018/2019 cruise season, in addition to the day visitors from nearby Christchurch and “regular” tourists (Hayward, 2018). Since the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak, many academics, journalists and residents have called for a “reset of the tourism button”, seeing the post-COVID-19 recovery as an opportunity to start fresh, guided by the principles of sustainable tourism development (Central Economic Development Agency, 2020; Fraser, 2020; Higgins-Desbiolles, 2020; UNWTO, 2020; Waterworth, 2020). This letter discusses the development and implications of cruise ship visits in Akaroa. Based on resident interviews undertaken in February 2020, this letter discusses the impact of cruise ship visits in Akaroa and their implications for a more sustainable “reset” of this important tourism sector. Cruise Tourism in Akaroa Akaroa is a small town, located on Banks Peninsula, an approximately 90 minute “dead-end” drive from Christchurch, the largest city on New Zealand’s South Island (Fig. 1). Historically, Akaroa has been a popular tourist town, due to its scenic location, French charm, endemic Hector’s dolphins, and popular hiking trails. This changed dramatically when a magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit Christchurch on 22 February 2011, causing major damage to Christchurch’s port in Lyttleton (Adams, 2011). The damage was so bad that cruise ships could no longer call at that port, and it was decided to divert cruise ships to Akaroa Harbour. This decision led to significant crowding in Akaroa, which was not designed for such an influx of visitors. The negative impacts of that decision became clear very quickly, from air and noise pollution to congested roads and overused infrastructure, such as public toilet facilities (Cropp, 2018; Lück, 2019; Scheyvens, 2019). Resident Perceptions on Cruise Tourism in Akaroa As part of a qualitative study of the phenomenon of overtourism across New Zealand in February 2020, we interviewed residents in Akaroa. Their responses provided valuable insights into the problems with cruise ship visits in that small community, and a foundation for possible future strategies. Based on the interviews, we identified three main themes relating to problems with cruise ship visits: Pollution, crowding/congestion, and conflict within the community. Academia Letters, February 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Michael Lück, mlueck@aut.ac.nz Citation: Lück, M., Seeler, S., Radic, A. (2021). Hitting the reset button for post-COVID-19 cruise tourism: The case of Akaroa, Aotearoa New Zealand. Academia Letters, Article 219. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL219. 2 Figure 1: Map showing Christchurch, Lyttleton and Akaroa at the end of State Highway 75 (Source: Google Maps, 2020) Pollution The cruise industry is well known for the potential environmental impacts it causes (Abbasov, 2019; Carić & Mackelworth, 2016). In Akaroa, residents complained of air and noise pollution and stirred up sediment in the natural harbour. The former affected residents at home as Participant A noted: Right where the ships are anchored, they are pretty much in my living room. I wake up every morning to loudspeakers’ 6:30am announcements blasting, the anchors crashing and that is it for the day. Finish. Bad air, bad everything! A Academia Letters, February 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Michael Lück, mlueck@aut.ac.nz Citation: Lück, M., Seeler, S., Radic, A. (2021). Hitting the reset button for post-COVID-19 cruise tourism: The case of Akaroa, Aotearoa New Zealand. Academia Letters, Article 219. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL219. 3 full day I wait until 7pm at night to breathe fresh air again, maybe and have some peace and quiet. It totally destroyed my lifestyle here. The same participant also provided us with photos, showing the stirred up sediment when cruise ships have to reposition to accommodate safe tendering of their passengers (Fig. 2). Figure 2: Cruise ship stirring up sediment in Akaroa Harbour during the tendering process (supplied by Participant A) Crowding/Congestion Participants complained about the large number of cruise passengers in the small town as it becomes “completely overwhelmed, even if there is just one of these larger cruise ships” (Participant B), and in particular about the buses that take these to Christchurch via State Highway 75 (a narrow winding road). They remarked that buses drive on footpaths when they pass each other, because the roads are too narrow. Participant B noted: Academia Letters, February 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Michael Lück, mlueck@aut.ac.nz Citation: Lück, M., Seeler, S., Radic, A. (2021). Hitting the reset button for post-COVID-19 cruise tourism: The case of Akaroa, Aotearoa New Zealand. Academia Letters, Article 219. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL219. 4 That is the sort of things we are dealing with here every day when there is a cruise ship, they are in front of our apartments [showing photographs with buses parked all the way up the road], buses on footpaths here photographed by [name]. There is buses outside of schools, there is just buses on buses on buses. Equally, they observed that State Highway 75 becomes dangerous due to the many buses going to and from Christchurch on cruise days. Participant C showed us a printed diary, where she had marked cruise ship days, and said she will not make any appointments in Christchurch on these days, because driving is too dangerous with “50 buses going back and forth on SH75 carrying more overweight tourists.” Community Conflict All participants noted that the once peaceful community has been divided since the arrival of cruise ships. On the one hand, there are many residents that suffer from the above mentioned impacts, and on the other hand there are just a handful of businesses that benefit from cruise tourists. Participant D explained that: The value to the locals has declined. And one store in particular, […], it used to be a wonderful old-fashioned hardware store where you could go in and get anything you needed, and they are now called [shop name] and he [the owner] is almost quite a bit apologetic about selling and of course he made quite a bit out of selling it, it is now a mixture of tacky and useful things. Outspoken residents face harsh criticism, and do not feel safe in their community any longer. When asked about the current state of local relationships, Participant C exclaimed: Brutal! I have been verbally threatened and abused. I have been told, by a prominent member of [local DMO], I would be banned from [local café]. I would not be allowed in [local corner store] to buy milk. I would not be allowed in the petrol station and I would not be allowed to enter the butchery. I have been told by another two business owners, I would not be allowed in their premises and I would be banned from walking down Beach Road. Participant A added “there is no free speech anymore, if you speak up you will be put out.” This view was also shared by Participant B who highlighted the conflicts in the town: “if you do speak up, you then become victimized and you are all of a sudden not welcomed by the business community”. Academia Letters, February 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Michael Lück, mlueck@aut.ac.nz Citation: Lück, M., Seeler, S., Radic, A. (2021). Hitting the reset button for post-COVID-19 cruise tourism: The case of Akaroa, Aotearoa New Zealand. Academia Letters, Article 219. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL219. 5 The Way Forward There is no doubt that tourism will recover post COVID-19. As Dans (2020) notes, tourism can indeed survive the pandemic, but he argues that it has to change radically, and a complete rethink of the harmful cruise industry is required. Spreading the cruise ship visits over an extended season has been proposed as a solution; however, our participants felt that this is “just spreading the madness”, and that they need a break: There is this peak season and that starts around October and it winds down in April and then the town can breathe. Residents can come out and we can actually be a community again. You can stop and see people on the street. You can socialise and you can relax. The pressure now is to extend the season, let’s have a shoulder season and let’s create winter activities. And ‘No! Excuse me, we need a break!’ (Participant C) An alternative is to limit the size, number and frequency of ships that are permitted to visit Akaroa, following the very recent example of Key West in Florida (Akaroa Civic Trust, 2020; Klingener, 2020; Seeler & Lück, 2020). This would allow lower passenger numbers to enter the town, and a reduced number of buses at any given time. In addition, we concur with the suggestion of one respondent, not to let buses into town, and use parking facilities close to the local recreation ground, located at the town entrance: “There is plenty of area there for them to park.” (Participant B). As for polluted air, while New Zealand has not signed the MARPOL Convention, which from 1 January 2020 mandates new air pollution limits from ships in Annex VI (International Maritime Organization, 2020), vessels generally abide by these. However, in addition to advocating for New Zealand to become a signatory to the convention to protect the marine and coastal environment, we advocate for even stricter national regulations, akin to those in Alaska (Sheppard, 2008). Now is the opportunity for regulators, tourism planners and councils to plan for a sustainable (re)growth of the tourism industry post COVID-19, for the benefits of the industry, tourists, host communities and the environment. References Abbasov, F. (2019). One corporation to pollute them all: Luxury cruise air emissions in Europe. European Federation for Transport and Environment AISBL. https://www.transportenvironment.org/publications/one-corporation-pollute-the-all Academia Letters, February 2021 ©2021 by the authors — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Michael Lück, mlueck@aut.ac.nz Citation: Lück, M., Seeler, S., Radic, A. (2021). 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