Fair Sailing advocates for an approach to cruise tourism that prioritizes the interests of residents, local businesses and the environment of Victoria, Canada’s highest volume cruise port-of-call.

“ There have been growing calls for tourism that prioritizes communities and the environment, in what is often referred to as a “regenerative” approach...It is becoming clearer that the [tourism] sector can no longer measure its success by volume and revenue alone, with net impacts on local people and place largely unintentional and overlooked...The rising sentiment is that current approaches are too often extractive and degenerative, reducing quality of life for residents, damaging ecosystem health, and diminishing local culture and community.”

— (Destination Canada, A Regenerative Approach to Tourism in Canada)

Victoria’s 2026 cruise season is scheduled from April 10 to October 18, 2026 with 334 ships; 970,000 passengers; and 370,000 crew members. Their impacts include overtourism, air and ocean pollution, and the import of foreign wastes. The majority of ships are brief evening calls to comply with a US maritime law, saving the foreign-based cruise lines hundreds of millions in avoided penalties, but resulting in low economic value for Victoria at a high social and environmental cost.

Cruise tourism is high-volume, low-value mass tourism:

Cruise tourism in Victoria constitutes nearly 12% of the total number of visitors, but cruise tourists account for less than 2% of tourist spending in the region. (Stand Earth Economic Study of Cruise in Victoria)

Fair Sailing believes it is time to rethink cruise tourism.

cruise tourism problems

OVERTOURISM

includes overcrowding, traffic congestion/surges, and noise, with limited economic benefits

cruise tourism problems

What’s the problem? solutions

what’s the problem? solutions

what’s the problem? solutions

what’s the problem? solutions