Amsterdam banning cruise ships kills 2 birds with one stone: rampant tourism and environmental damage. It's just the latest place to do it, and probably won't be the last.

The Grand Princess cruise ship in Gastineau Channel in Juneau, Alaska, on May 30, 2018.

Becky Bohrer, File/Associated Press

• Tourist destinations around the world are dealing with overcrowding and environmental pollution.
• Amsterdam, Venice, and French Polynesia are among the places that have banned cruise ships.
• The trend is likely to continue as the industry grows and those concerns persist.

Banning cruise ships addresses two major problems that tourism destinations around the world are struggling to contain: hoards of people and environmental destruction.

The Amsterdam City Council passed a measure Thursday that will ban cruise ships from docking in the Dutch capital. Officials said the measure was intended to reduce the sheer number of tourists and curb pollution, problems brought on by the more than a hundred cruise ships that previously docked near the city center each year.

Amsterdam was just the latest city to take action against cruise ships, and there may be more in the future as the industry continues to grow despite environmental and tourism concerns.

In 2021, Italian officials banned cruise ships over a certain size from docking in Venice in order to curb tourism and protect the ecosystem of the lagoon, which was also declared a national monument. French Polynesia also banned mega cruise ships last year, citing concerns about the burden on local infrastructure and ecosystem conservation.

Others have limited large ships, rather than enacting all-out bans. Barcelona last year decided to limit the number of cruise liners docking in the city's harbor. Back in 2016, Santorini started limiting cruise ship visitors in response to overcrowding. 

The moves come at a time when cruise ships are under increasing scrutiny for environmental impacts and questions about how much they are actually helping the local economies they visit.

Cruises to pristine areas of Alaska, for instance, have resulted in air, water, and noise pollution, piles of trash, and too many people, causing damage to the ecosystems, according to a report from Hakai Magazine. The outlet reported a tourism survey found a majority of Juneau residents are "very supportive" of limiting the number of large cruise ships that dock in the harbor each day.

So whether they are full bans or just limits, the cruise industry is likely to face more restrictions at the local levels in the future.

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