Passengers of the luxurious cruise ship World Traveler were treated to a noisy welcoming committee on Sunday morning in Douarnenez (Finistère). Gathered at the port, 80 disguised demonstrators booed the passengers as they disembarked. “You are not welcome, we don’t need your money,” one of the demonstrators shouted through a megaphone, while a cordon gendarmes prevented them from approaching the landing zone. Several signs were also held up with slogans like “Shame on you!” » or “Go home!” “.
Dressed up as polar bears, sea lions or Venetian carnival riders, the demonstrators intended to denounce the environmental impact of cruises. These boats “spend their time going back and forth between the poles to do last-chance tourism: see the last penguins, the last polar bears, the last icebergs. It’s indecent,” stressed Alice, 25 years old. This demonstration “is a bit in support of the polar fauna which is suffering from climate change and all the consequences of our way of life in this society,” she added.
Growing discontent against the cruise industry
Vessel World Traveler, with a capacity of less than 200 passengers, made a stopover in Douarnenez as part of a ten-day cruise between Dublin and Lisbon, offered at prices ranging from 8,048 euros to 13,257 euros per passenger. Crossed a little later in the streets of the Breton city, Eric Scott, a 49-year-old American tourist, with a bucket hat and Hawaiian shirt, did not seem particularly disturbed by this rowdy landing. “It was a useful educational experience,” said the Seattle education consultant. That’s one of the reasons we travel, is to get perspectives from other places. » Eric Scott said he “understands” the motivations of the demonstrators who “argue for environmental responsibility”. “Does that mean no boat trips?” I don’t know,” he added.
Cruise organizer Atlas Ocean Voyages, a Florida-based company, assures on its website that its “intimate yachts” consume “only a fifth of the fuel” used by traditional cruise ships, “thus reducing (their) impact on the environment “. The cruise industry, considered polluting, is the subject of growing discontent from Brittany to the Côte d’Azur, with an increase in petitions and demonstrations. According to a study by the NGO Transport and Environment, cruise ships sailing in European waters in 2022 emitted more than 8 million tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of 50,000 Paris-New York flights.