Key West residents vote to limit cruise ship traffic
The Key West cruise ship ballot has approved measures to restrict the size of vessels and the number of cruisers able to come ashore daily.
Residents also voted to give priority to ships attaining the highest environmental and health safety standards.
The Election Day ballot called for a vote on limiting the number of cruise passengers coming ashore to 1,500 a day, and limiting capacity of ships calling at Key West to no more than 1,300 passengers.
Al three issues were approved by more than 60% of the vote.
"We realized that Key West hasn’t been offered the opportunity to have any input in how cruise ships come and visit us. And we decided that we needed to take a stand," said Jolly Benson, Vice President of the Committee for Safer, Cleaner Ships.
Last year nearly one million people visited Key West on a cruise ship which is almost half its total number of tourists.
However cruise passengers only represented about 7% of total tourism spending, according to a Cruise Lines International Association study.
The referendum was keenly fought by two distinct camps – those opposing cruise ship pollution and the tourism related business community keen to preserve jobs.
The changes will be added to the city’s charter but a legal fight is expected to continue.
Port operator Pier B Development had already started federal legal proceedings against the city and the Committee for Safer, Cleaner Ships.
Written by Ray Montgomery, US Editor
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Higher departure tax and visa cost, e-arrival card: Japan unleashes the fiscal weapon against tourists
U.S.A. and Israel attacks on Iran impact air movements in the Gulf (Update 1.00pm CET)
Global tourism exceeds 1.5 billion travelers announces UN-Tourism
WTTC global tourism reached record economic impact of 11 trillion in 2025
Marginal increase for New York City tourism in 2025