The Journal of Coastal Research (JCR), published by the Coastal Education & Research Foundation, Inc. [CERF] Special issue 61, 2011, p 104. Cruising tourism environmental impacts: case study of Dubrovnik, Croatia Hrvoje Carić Institute for tourism Vrhovec 5 HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia Tel:385+1+3909666; Fax: 385+1+3909667 Email: hrvoje.caric@iztzg.hr Abstract Cruise tourism is new economic, social and environmental phenomena with potential serious impacts on the three pillars of sustainability. This paper will look into the environmental impacts in order to disclose potential hazards in port of Dubrovnik. Subsequently, existing mechanisms to deal with the hazards will be analyzed to determine their effectiveness to mitigate the impacts. This process will use direct pollution costs calculations to enable cost benefit analysis. Other impact analysis will be conducted in form of environmental (pollution) footprinting that compare environmental loads of cruise tourist vs. local inhabitant. The two (cost benefit analysis and environmental footprinting) analysis will provide information on general aspects of cruise tourism carrying capacity and its current direction of development. Finally, the discussion will point to key pollution management issues, possible solutions to some of the pollutions aspects, and stress other direct ecological threats. Keywords: Cruise ships, tourism, environmental impacts, pollution control, pollution costs, Dubrovnik