Abstract:
Cruise tourism is a booming part of the tourism sector, especially in the destination of Tallinn in Estonia. The impacts cruise tourism has on destinations are mostly limited to mass-tourism, but it is more than the quantity of disembarking passengers. Therefore, the concept of sustainable tourism has been introduced which aims to maintain or improve the tourism sector at a destination in such a way that it is sustainable for all stakeholders at the social and economic level. Related to this is the framework of indicators which could show how sustainable cruise tourism is at a destination. This framework and its theory take the central point in this thesis and the research is based on the framework. Via interviews with different stakeholders, the current state of sustainability of the cruise tourism industry in Tallinn could be investigated. Furthermore, it became possible to research where this industry could be improved and how it could become sustainable. For now it could be concluded that cruise tourism in Tallinn is relatively sustainable; mostly on the economic level and in lesser extent on the social level. On the social level there are some risks which are related to mass-tourism and the hosting community.
