Ethics, tourists, and the environmental practices of the North American cruise ship industry: A comparison study of the ethical standards of Alaskan and Caribbean cruise ship tourists

The cruise industry has been recognized as the fastest growing sector of the tourism industry, with 8.4% growth each year since 1980. In North America the growth rate has been a staggering 15% per year since 1998. The cruise industry is, however, a visible and documented environmental offender, displaying a lack of ethics in its attitude toward the natural environment.An analysis of the findings revealed that overall the majority of respondents found the environmental practices of the industry unacceptable. However, females in both Alaska and Cozumel found the industry's practices to be significantly more unacceptable than did male respondents. Alaskan respondents were found to have a higher standard of ethical conduct than Cozumel respondents. Alaskan and Cozumel respondents differed on the type of ethical orientation they were likely to employ when judging the ethical MES scenario in the questionnaire. There were also significant differences between males and females in Cozumel regarding the strength of their ethical orientation, with female Cozumel respondents utilizing a significantly stronger justice orientation than male respondents. An interesting finding revealed itself through the negative correlation between the number of cruises taken and how the Alaskan respondents reacted to two sections of the questionnaire. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...