We don't know how much we earn, nor how much we suffer ecologically: Panel discussion on the benefits and risks of cruising tourism in Boka Bay

Panelists who presented on various aspects of cruising tourism in Boka were the Executive Director of the Port of Kotor AD Ljubo Radović, the Mayor of Kotor Vladimir Jokić, the Acting General Director of the Directorate for Maritime and Inland Navigation at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs Captain Goran Idrizović, Dr. Slavica Perović from the Institute of Marine Biology in Kotor and Dr. Danilo Nikolić from the Faculty of Maritime Studies of the University of Montenegro in Kotor.

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Cruiser passes through the Verige Strait in Boka Bay, Photo: Siniša Luković
Cruiser passes through the Verige Strait in Boka Bay, Photo: Siniša Luković
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

Montenegro failed to conduct a timely baseline assessment of the state of the environment in the waters of the Bay of Kotor, on the basis of which it could properly monitor the impact of cruise tourism on the marine ecosystem through regular annual monitoring of changes. Likewise, our country does not have an adequate annual system for monitoring the state of the sea and the marine ecosystem in the Bay of Kotor, which is the most traffic-laden part of the Montenegrin waters. The country does not have, nor has it ever done, a study of the economic and social impact of the development of the cruise industry in the bay, which is visited annually by nearly 500 small and large ships on large tourist trips, bringing around 700.000 people here.

This was heard, among other things, on Friday at the panel "Cruisers in Boka: Economy and Ecology", held in Tivat at the third international conference "Boka Kotorska as a Sustainable Nautical Destination", which was organized as part of the IV Wind Festival held in that city by the Maritime Faculty from Kotor in cooperation with the "Delfin" Yacht Club from Tivat and the Municipality of Tivat.

Panelists who presented on various aspects of cruising tourism in Boka were the Executive Director of the Port of Kotor AD Ljubo Radović, the Mayor of Kotor Vladimir Jokić, the Acting General Director of the Directorate for Maritime and Inland Navigation at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs Captain Goran Idrizović, Dr. Slavica Perović from the Institute of Marine Biology in Kotor and Dr. Danilo Nikolić from the Faculty of Maritime Studies of the University of Montenegro in Kotor.

"The Port of Kotor ended 2024 as one of its most successful business years by almost all parameters. We had 476 ship arrivals and some 586 thousand passengers. I emphasize passengers - so, that excludes the crew members of those ships, so in total it would be more. This is something that corresponds to the number of ships that are somewhere at the level of what is the optimal number that we can serve during the year as a port and as a system in organizational terms. I emphasize that in the surveys that we regularly conduct with our clients - cruise companies, we have absolutely no objections to what the operations are in the Port of Kotor itself," said the director of the Port of Kotor, Ljubo Radović, adding that he, as someone who was born and has lived in Kotor his entire life, is doing everything to ensure that the Port of Kotor operates responsibly and that cruising tourism, which is its core business, is carried out in a way that causes the least possible harm to the Bay of Boka, its natural and cultural heritage and the inhabitants of this region.

He stated that the Port management, in cooperation with the Municipality of Kotor, which is the majority owner of the company, is taking a series of measures to optimize the reception of ships and passengers, but that in the specific and spatially limited environment in which these activities take place, occasional challenges are inevitable, such as congestion at sea caused by small vessels transporting passengers from the ship to the shore or taking them on take-offs in the bay, the impact on the environment from exhaust gases from the ships' propulsion systems, noise, and the like.

Detail from the Port of Kotor
Detail from the Port of Kotorphoto: Siniša Luković

"Last year, the Port of Kotor had a gross revenue of around six million euros. We annually give 900 thousand euros to the state for the primary concession, while another 150 thousand euros is allocated for the variable part of the concession fee depending on turnover. Taxes and contributions are another 500 thousand euros. Last year, the Port of Kotor, as one of the most socially responsible companies in Montenegro, allocated 250 thousand euros for assistance, sponsorships and donations. The current tax on the realized profit, which was slightly above one million euros, is 300 thousand euros. So, when you add it all up, it is almost three million, which is our company's direct contribution to state finances and wider society," said Radović, adding that unfortunately, in Montenegro there is no, nor has anyone done, a special economic and social study on the direct effects of cruising tourism taking place in Boka.

"Official data from the CVLIA International Cruise Industry Association shows that the average spending per passenger at a destination a ship visits last year was $96 worldwide. If we know that the largest and most significant markets in the global cruise industry are the US and Germany when it comes to passengers, and that this category of passengers is the most dominant in our country, then the analogy is that this average would be at the level of the average spending of what an individual cruise passenger "leaves" during a visit to a ship cruising in Kotor," Radović said, adding that official analyses show that the average cruise tourist has a 54 percent higher daily spending at a destination they are briefly visiting than a classic tourist who spends the night in accommodation at that destination.

Radović stated that the Port of Kotor is ready to support and finance some research and regular monitoring of the state of the marine ecosystem in its waters and that in this regard it already supports some of the programs implemented by the Institute of Marine Biology, i.e. the Faculty of Maritime Affairs. The Mayor of Kotor, Vladimir Jokić, pointed out that last year the International Cruise Industry Association CLIA completed a complete assessment of Kotor and Boka Bay as a cruising destination according to the standards of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) and that this detailed document clearly identified both the weaknesses and strengths of Boka Bay as a destination, i.e. defined the directions in which to minimize the negative and maximize the positive effects of cruising tourism in Boka Bay.

"Cruising tourism and everything related to it causes a huge debate that can and should be very high quality and good and healthy, but unfortunately, it can also lead things into a completely different world of spin and manipulation of reality, especially from those who are not familiar with this issue. Cruise ships are in themselves, perhaps the most controlled systems in general - starting from the owners of the ships, the country whose flag they fly, the classification society that gives them navigation papers, the International Maritime Organization IMO, insurers, inspections of the countries in whose hands they come and from the industry itself that imposes extremely high standards of safety, security and environmental protection. And then we in Montenegro problematize cruise ships as the most controlled part of the system that violates the applicable regulations the least or not at all, and we do not problematize all the other chaos that other parts of our economy, relying on cruising tourism - agencies, excursion speedboats, taxi drivers and who else, create for us, where the control and standards of operation are far, far worse and the situation "less regulated than is the case with the operation of cruise ships," Jokić pointed out, citing as negative examples the public campaign about the alleged destruction of the Kotor walls from "acid rain" caused by exhaust gases from ships, or the alleged discharge of fecal waste from cruise ships, for which photographs of the washing of mud from the ship's anchor chain and anchor, which had just been raised from the seabed, are attached as "evidence".

Cruisers with sails are also coming to Boka - the ship ROYAL CLIPPER in front of Kamenari
Cruisers with sails are also coming to Boka - the ship ROYAL CLIPPER in front of Kamenariphoto: Siniša Luković

"We live in a period of absolute cacophony where you can sell any kind of interest in any topic to the public, turn it into a story and make an entire project out of it," the mayor underlined. He pointed out that according to unofficial estimates, cruising tourism brings up to 80 million euros annually to the Kotor economy.

"This is something that is called false export in economic theory. We have nothing to export as a state, but by providing this type of service, we are performing a type of false export. This is an economic impact that is irreplaceable at this moment. I have repeatedly emphasized on various panels that if someone can come up with an economy that will generate 80 million euros in the course of a year within the framework of what the economic flows in Kotor are, I will be very happy to discuss all possible alternatives," Jokić underlined, adding that many other destinations in the Mediterranean that complain about overtourism, such as Venice, Dubrovnik or Barcelona, ​​have not given up on cruise tourism and ships, and that there is no example of these cities possibly refusing to accept a passenger ship that booked it on time within the framework of available capacities.

"We have a port. And it has been a port for the past several thousand years, and a port without a ship is not a port. Once upon a time, they were cargo ships - previously sailing ships and steamships. Today, they are cruisers. Without cruisers, the Port of Kotor is not a port," concluded Jokić.

The Director General of the Directorate for Maritime and Inland Navigation at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Captain Goran Idrizović, said that from his personal experience as a pilot on cruise ships, he can testify that these ships strictly adhere to all navigation safety rules and respect the regimes according to which maritime traffic is carried out in a certain area. According to him, this cannot be said for many other participants in maritime traffic, primarily small fast vessels - recreational or excursion speedboats, which are in large numbers in Boka Bay in the summer.

He emphasized that the new law on navigation safety, which is in the process of being introduced, introduces the obligation to use a tugboat security escort for all ships longer than 100 meters while passing through the Verige Strait.

"I think there is a general consensus and an undivided position among both the professional and lay public that this introduction of the obligation to use tugboats in the Bay of Kotor was a necessity. So far, I have not heard anyone who has critically commented on this entire article of the new law," said Idrizović, adding that the existing law also authorizes the harbor master to limit or prohibit navigation in certain parts of the bay for certain types of ships in the event of unfavorable weather conditions. He added that a comprehensive study for the waterway and a study of navigation safety will follow, which will provide answers to many currently unresolved issues of maritime safety in the Bay, and announced strict controls of all participants in maritime traffic and sanctions for all violators.

Scientist from the Institute of Marine Biology, Dr. Slavica Petović, pointed out that "unfortunately, a concrete study that would provide a picture of the impact of cruise ships on the state of the marine ecosystem in the Bay of Kotor does not yet exist."

"If I can give a personal opinion, I think we are late with it because the cruise ships have already left so much of a mark that I don't know what the so-called zero state could show. As for the Bay of Kotor, if we were to talk about the impact of cruise ships on living things, I think the story would drag on indefinitely. But I will always say that it is a major negative impact. I am not in favor of excluding the economy, but I am in favor of paying close attention to the ecological impact when talking about some future plans," she said, adding that Montenegro in this area cannot be compared even remotely to Norway, which has fjords similar to Boka, but also very strict environmental protection standards.

Cruise ship in Boka Bay sails towards the Port of Kotor
Cruise ship in Boka Bay sails towards the Port of Kotorphoto: Siniša Luković

"We have Boka - our only fjord, and when talking about some plans in the maritime and maritime industry, we need to take into account the configuration of the Bay of Kotor. It is a bay that is deeply indented into the mainland, semi-enclosed, the water circulation is very weak - the exchange of water with the open sea is very slow. We have none of the regulations and standards that Norway has. The seabed in front of Kotor is mostly covered with mud, so anchors and chains that drag along the bottom raise so many mud particles that later the sedimentation process literally buries all the sessile living life in the sea. So if we need to continue talking about the impact of cruise ships - noise, light, solid waste, wastewater - we could talk until tomorrow," Petović underlined.

Specialist in ship-borne systems, lubricants and fuels, Dr. Danilo Nikolić from the Faculty of Maritime Affairs, said that they have four measuring stations that monitor the movement of air quality in Kotor, which does not depend only on the cruise ships that arrive and anchor in the bay, but also on road traffic on land.

"What we can say based on the report of the Agency for the Protection of the Marine Environment and our measurements is that air pollution in Kotor is within the prescribed limits, generally thanks mainly to favorable metrological conditions, but that does not mean that there is no pollution and that some peaks do not occur from time to time," said Nikolić, who welcomed the fact that as of May 1, the entire Mediterranean, including Montenegrin waters, has become the so-called international ECA area where the use of fuel on ships with a sulfur content greater than 0,1 percent is prohibited.

He pointed out that the global cruise industry has a stated goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, and is developing a range of new technologies and fuels for ship propulsion.

He stressed that Norway is introducing a ban on entering two of its most beautiful and sensitive fjords from January 1st next year for all ships under 10.000 tons unless they have zero emissions – that is, they do not use fossil fuels, but are powered by electricity. Such a ban for ships larger than 10 tons, which is the majority of cruise ships that enter Norwegian waters, will come into effect on January 000st, 1.

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