| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中央大學 === 國際永續發展碩士在職專班 === 103 === Cruise Tourism is the epitome of the tourism industry presently in Belize, and it was significant growth since 2005. Although the continuing growth of this industry has generated considerably economic benefits, but also breeds the effects of terrestrial and marine environment as well as the impacts on the lives of people in this nation.
With the growing concerns of the impact and level of damage from this sector, this study developed an organizational framework that aimed to assess the selected impacts from a list of potential impacts. This research employed multi-criteria decision making method and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to rank the environmental and living impact items from different perspective levels including local residents, the authorized government personnel, and the experts. These impacts and benefits from the cruise ship tourism industry were then quantified to conduct a cost benefit comparison.
Belize City is the hub of tourism industry in Belize because it is the present home of the Fort Street Tourism Village (FSTV) where cruise passengers disembark and return to their cruise ship. The perception of the residents, who are living in the vicinity of FSTV were investigated and assessed to determine their level of awareness of the potential risks and damages generated as a results of cruise tourism.
Application of AHP analysis, this study has shown that the solid waste impact generated from the cruise ship tourists, regardless of ranking sequence or cost assessment are the most impacting item on environment and the community. Following the solid waste impact is sequentially the wastewater of cruise ship, traffic congestion, air pollution and the damages of infrastructure. The total cost generated from these impacts estimated by this research is up to nearly US$ 55 million per year which was taking the year of 2016 as the base year of currency. The income from the cruise ship tourism industry, including head taxes and ashore expenditure, are about $ 70 million a year. Though earnings appear to be greater than the impact cost, but it is worth to note that this study has not yet to estimate the environmental opportunity costs.
|
|---|
