Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Alaska Cruise Hits Environmental Protection Agency Hurdle

The industry of Alaska cruise is going to witness some changes in the coming years. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently regarded coast of Alaska as ECA or Emission Control Area. This is going to directly affect the economic aspect of the cruises operating here. This is the reason why Anchorage Chamber of Commerce has discussed on this matter.


Now, you may ask, what is Emission Control Area? What does this signify? Is it good, bad or ugly?

To answer these questions we have to first understand what ECA does signify. Emission Control Area restricts percentage use of sulfur in the oil tankers and cruise ships.  As per this restriction or control, all the marine vessels are subjected to this. 

Regulation

As per the meeting of Anchorage Chamber of Commerce it has been decided that all the marine vessels can have a maximum limit of 1% sulfur content in the coast of Alaska. This will start from 1st of January 2015. This limit of one percent will further come down to 0.1% in the years after its initial implementation where it would be 1%.

Apprehension

Informed industry experts are apprehensive about the impact of this fuel restriction on Alaska cruise lines. One of the representatives of Holland America Cruise Line and Princess Tours is Bruce Bustamante. He even discussed certain points with the Chamber of Commerce regarding the possible impacts of this regulation on cruise business. If this regulation affects the cruise business, then naturally this will also negatively affect the tourism industry of this place. Many people argue that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) restriction will not affect the general tourism industry at all. But the fact remains that not only the cruise tourism industry but also the general tourism industry will also get adversely affected by EPA restriction.




As per the available statistics, it can be said that almost 60% of the tourists of Austria are cruise passengers. If that is the case then the popularity of the service may get affected from the increased price of the tickets, which may lead to fall in the total number of cruise passengers. 

Associations of Alaska cruise discussed about these things so that a way-out can be found and consequently profit percentage of the cruises don’t fall. 


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