Travel Weekly Digital Edition

Arnie Weissmann:
Does ‘WALL-E’ ship satirize
cruising’s past or future? P. 12
IN OTHER NEWS:
DOT OKs congestion pricing P. 6
Study downplays Olympics P. 48
Richard Turen:
Do cruise execs really know how
much travel agents sell? P. 45

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THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER OF THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY

JULY 14, 2008

[ ENVIRO GROUPS SUE OVER RANGER ACCESS ]
Discharge, report rekindle
Alaska debate over cruises

By Johanna Jainchill

On June 10, a Royal Caribbean International ship on its way from Alaska to a stop in British Columbia accidentally discharged 20,000 gallons of contaminated water into Southeast Alaska waters, rekindling old tensions over the environmental impact of cruising.

The incident also raised new questions about the year-old program that puts Alaska ocean rangers on cruise ships.

According to Royal Caribbean, which voluntarily reported the incident to Alaskan

authorities, the Rhapsody of the Seas discharged the gray water (water from cabin showers and sinks) into the Alexander Archipelago, in the mistaken belief that the ship was beyond Alaska state waters.

“This discharge is totally unacceptable,” said Jamie Sweeting, vice president for environmental stewardship at Royal Caribbean. “It runs counter to everything we’re doing to protect Alaska’s waters and oceans worldwide.”

Royal Caribbean said the mistake was realized a week after it had occurred, during a routine review of the ship’s environmental procedures. The line suspended the Rhapsody’s captain and environmental officer while it investigates the incident.

See ALASKA on Page 47

Welcoming
China

[ FOCUS IS SUSTAINABLE ECO DEVELOPMENT ]
Honduras striving to improve image,
infrastructure to draw more tourists

By Jeri Clausing

COPAN, HONDURAS — Honduras is probably more often associated with the Peace Corps and church missions than tourism. But this Central American country, rich in culture and history and blessed with the beauty of mountains, rain forests, pristine

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beaches and reefs, is making an aggressive effort to change that.

With still-affordable land and more than 450 miles of undeveloped Caribbean coastline along the country’s north shore, the government has turned its attention to hotel investment and tourism in collaboration with the nonprofit Foundation for Investment and Development of Exports, or FIDE, which has been working since 1984 to promote industry development in the country.

“The misconception is that Honduras is a country that is in war all the time and has a lot of guerrillas,” said Antonio Young, FIDE’s executive vice president. “It is a destination that is not well advertised or known, perhaps because we have not had the budget or economic power to put an ad in the Wall Street Journal now and then.”

But promotion and private sector partnerships, developed as part of a comprehensive tourism plan about six years ago by then-incoming President Ricardo Maduro, are