Croatian tourism expert Hrvoje Caric writes in a scholarly article that the negative impact of cruise ships is not visible for several reasons.
He warns of mass-scale pollution and says that a cruise ship with 3,000 guests aboard produces daily 10.5-12 tonnes of solid waste, 1,203 kilograms of carbon dioxide per kilometre of voyage, plus large amounts of waste waters as well as 390-480 kilogrammes of hazardous waste.
What makes things worse is the fact that developing countries have not yet developed legislation and waste control and management mechanisms, Caric says.
According to the national statistical office (DZS), during 2014, foreign cruise ships with 1.02 million passengers made 705 cruise voyages through Croatia. They spent two days on average in Croatia. However, there have been no available data on tourist revenues from those ships.
Tourism Ministry spokeswoman Eva De Zan has told Hina that "unfortunately neither the Central Bureau of Statistics nor the Croatian National Bank keep statistics that would enable us to see the share of that type of tourism in total tourism revenues."
She referred Hina to the Institute of Tourism which a few years ago had stated that annual revenues from cruise tourism in Croatia could be put at EUR 52.8 million.
Caric has estimated that the cost of the environmental impact of cruise ships could amount to as much as EUR 390 million.
Nearly 70% of cruise tourism in Croatia is registered in the southernmost Croatian Adriatic resort of Dubrovnik.
DZS statistics reveal "interesting" data about sulphur deposition in Dubrovnik, which may serve as an indication of how much cruise ships pollute the environment.
Cruise ships use high-sulphur fuels, and in 2013, Dubrovnik registered 31.13 kilogrammes of sulphur deposition per hectare while the target load for sulphur deposition is set at 5 kg per hectare. In 2013, sulphur deposition at most measuring stations in Croatia ranged between 2-6 kg/ha, and in Rijeka it was 11 kg/ha.