<p class="title">Cruises are enjoying a boom fuelled in part by hordes of Chinese tourists taking to the high seas, but green groups warn a wave of hulking new liners may cause environmental devastation.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Gone are the days when cruising was the preserve of retirees, who would while away the hours lounging in deckchairs, playing bingo or taking part in formal dinner-dances.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Modern liners resemble floating, futuristic cities capable of carrying thousands of passengers, where robot bartenders serve drinks and passengers can enjoy hi-tech entertainment.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Many of the new, more sophisticated ships aim to appeal to the rapidly growing Chinese cruise market -- now the second-biggest in the world after the US -- and are choosing cities in the Asian giant as their home ports.</p>.<p class="bodytext">As tourism booms in increasingly wealthy China, there is a growing "desire and enthusiasm" for cruises, said Wang Mi, spokeswoman for Chinese online travel agency Tuniu.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Cruise products are very popular with seniors, families and honeymooners in China," she told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">About 30 million people worldwide are expected to go on a cruise this year, up nearly 70 percent from a decade ago, according to the Cruise Lines International Association.</p>.<p class="bodytext">While the more mature US market remains the largest globally, China is growing fast -- last year about 2.4 million Chinese tourists went on a cruise, more than triple the number in 2014.</p>.<p class="bodytext">There is rising demand right across Asia with growth at double digits in some countries, said Gavin Smith, senior vice president international of US cruise giant Royal Caribbean.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The Asian market is increasingly important to global cruising," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But the rising number of monster liners, often hundreds of metres long and several stories high, has increased concerns about environmental damage.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We see a big range of environmental impacts from the cruise industry -- everything from air pollution to waste water, sewage, oily discharges, food wastes, plastics," Marcie Keever, oceans and vessels programme director at Friends of the Earth US, told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A major concern is high levels of sulphur oxide emissions, a toxic gas which causes respiratory problems and lung disease, and can lead to acid rain and damage aquatic species.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In 2017 ships operated by Carnival Corporation -- the world's largest cruise company, which has several brands -- emitted 10 times more sulphur oxide in European seas than all the passenger vehicles in the continent, according to a study by NGO Transport & Environment.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Efforts are being made to reduce the amount of the gas emitted. New industry standards will from next year require all ships to cut sulphur oxide content in fuel to a maximum 0.5 percent from the current 3.5 percent limit.</p>.<p class="bodytext">There are also worries about the impact of mammoth vessels on the cities they berth at during voyages.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A 13-deck liner crashed into a tourist boat in a Venice canal last month, injuring four tourists, and prompting a protest from local residents who called for a ban on large cruise ships in the UNESCO World Heritage site.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In addition, ships jettisoning waste at sea and the huge amounts of electricity used by the vessels have angered environmentalists. In June Carnival was fined $20 million in the United States for dumping plastic waste into the ocean and other environmental violations.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Industry players insist they are doing their part to reduce pollution.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Royal Caribbean has installed systems that clean almost all sulphur oxide and other pollutants from emissions, according to Nick Rose, the firm's director for environmental programmes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Cruise ships are cleaner than ever before and improving with each new class of ship," Rose told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Typical of the new generation of liners is Royal Caribbean's Spectrum of the Seas.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Custom-built for the Asian market and billed as the region's biggest cruise ship, the 345-metre (1,140-foot) vessel can carry over 5,600 guests.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Entertainment includes simulated skydiving in a wind tunnel, bouncing on a trampoline while wearing a virtual reality headset and bumper cars, all aimed at an increasingly younger generation of cruise-goers.</p>.<p class="bodytext">There are 17 restaurants onboard and the huge range of accommodation includes a two-storey family suite that comes with a private karaoke room and children's slide.</p>.<p class="bodytext">This can cater to Chinese tourists who often go on cruises in large groups.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Passenger Sylvia Bau, a veteran cruise-goer on holiday with six relatives, was amazed at the rapid growth of liners over the years.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"You can live in the ship for days without getting bored," the 58-year-old Singaporean said as the vessel made a call in the city-state, one of several stops in Southeast Asia before arriving at its home port of Shanghai.</p>
<p class="title">Cruises are enjoying a boom fuelled in part by hordes of Chinese tourists taking to the high seas, but green groups warn a wave of hulking new liners may cause environmental devastation.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Gone are the days when cruising was the preserve of retirees, who would while away the hours lounging in deckchairs, playing bingo or taking part in formal dinner-dances.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Modern liners resemble floating, futuristic cities capable of carrying thousands of passengers, where robot bartenders serve drinks and passengers can enjoy hi-tech entertainment.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Many of the new, more sophisticated ships aim to appeal to the rapidly growing Chinese cruise market -- now the second-biggest in the world after the US -- and are choosing cities in the Asian giant as their home ports.</p>.<p class="bodytext">As tourism booms in increasingly wealthy China, there is a growing "desire and enthusiasm" for cruises, said Wang Mi, spokeswoman for Chinese online travel agency Tuniu.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Cruise products are very popular with seniors, families and honeymooners in China," she told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">About 30 million people worldwide are expected to go on a cruise this year, up nearly 70 percent from a decade ago, according to the Cruise Lines International Association.</p>.<p class="bodytext">While the more mature US market remains the largest globally, China is growing fast -- last year about 2.4 million Chinese tourists went on a cruise, more than triple the number in 2014.</p>.<p class="bodytext">There is rising demand right across Asia with growth at double digits in some countries, said Gavin Smith, senior vice president international of US cruise giant Royal Caribbean.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The Asian market is increasingly important to global cruising," he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But the rising number of monster liners, often hundreds of metres long and several stories high, has increased concerns about environmental damage.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We see a big range of environmental impacts from the cruise industry -- everything from air pollution to waste water, sewage, oily discharges, food wastes, plastics," Marcie Keever, oceans and vessels programme director at Friends of the Earth US, told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A major concern is high levels of sulphur oxide emissions, a toxic gas which causes respiratory problems and lung disease, and can lead to acid rain and damage aquatic species.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In 2017 ships operated by Carnival Corporation -- the world's largest cruise company, which has several brands -- emitted 10 times more sulphur oxide in European seas than all the passenger vehicles in the continent, according to a study by NGO Transport & Environment.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Efforts are being made to reduce the amount of the gas emitted. New industry standards will from next year require all ships to cut sulphur oxide content in fuel to a maximum 0.5 percent from the current 3.5 percent limit.</p>.<p class="bodytext">There are also worries about the impact of mammoth vessels on the cities they berth at during voyages.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A 13-deck liner crashed into a tourist boat in a Venice canal last month, injuring four tourists, and prompting a protest from local residents who called for a ban on large cruise ships in the UNESCO World Heritage site.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In addition, ships jettisoning waste at sea and the huge amounts of electricity used by the vessels have angered environmentalists. In June Carnival was fined $20 million in the United States for dumping plastic waste into the ocean and other environmental violations.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Industry players insist they are doing their part to reduce pollution.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Royal Caribbean has installed systems that clean almost all sulphur oxide and other pollutants from emissions, according to Nick Rose, the firm's director for environmental programmes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Cruise ships are cleaner than ever before and improving with each new class of ship," Rose told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Typical of the new generation of liners is Royal Caribbean's Spectrum of the Seas.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Custom-built for the Asian market and billed as the region's biggest cruise ship, the 345-metre (1,140-foot) vessel can carry over 5,600 guests.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Entertainment includes simulated skydiving in a wind tunnel, bouncing on a trampoline while wearing a virtual reality headset and bumper cars, all aimed at an increasingly younger generation of cruise-goers.</p>.<p class="bodytext">There are 17 restaurants onboard and the huge range of accommodation includes a two-storey family suite that comes with a private karaoke room and children's slide.</p>.<p class="bodytext">This can cater to Chinese tourists who often go on cruises in large groups.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Passenger Sylvia Bau, a veteran cruise-goer on holiday with six relatives, was amazed at the rapid growth of liners over the years.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"You can live in the ship for days without getting bored," the 58-year-old Singaporean said as the vessel made a call in the city-state, one of several stops in Southeast Asia before arriving at its home port of Shanghai.</p>