What The APPLL Board Stands For

The Association to Preserve and Protect Local Livelihoods

APPLL is an independent group of citizens and businesses who have come together to preserve and protect local livelihoods currently at risk from unfounded and unwarranted efforts to constrain a certain kind of tourism in Bar Harbor.  Our objectives are today and have always been to foster collaboration among our members and the community to present a cohesive case advocating for a welcoming spirit toward visitors no matter who they are or how they arrive. 

The recent Citizens Initiated Ordinance imposes a limit on cruise ship “persons” disembarking to Bar Harbor at 1,000 persons per day cumulatively, every day of the year.  The practical effect of the limit is to bar cruise ships altogether and to create a de facto ban of visits by cruise ship passengers and crew coming to Bar Harbor at all.

The Ordinance has created what we believe to be an unconstitutional and unwarranted law that will effectively destroy an important source of municipal and business revenue by creating a bar to passengers and crew being able to disembark at Bar Harbor from ocean vessels.

Cruise tourism contributes significantly to municipal revenue and serves as vital shoulder season support for the local economy.   We take our stand out of economic necessity for our members, our Town, and our State (all of which could lose tens of millions of dollars every year should this ordinance ever be enforced and the Bar Harbor cruise business be destroyed).  We also will keep a critical focus on and persist in efforts to advance facts against ill-conceived, subjective and arbitrary measures that seek to eliminate what we believe to be desirable and legal visitation. 

APPLL and its members have always been in favor of sensible voluntary caps and as such have urged collaborative efforts to support visitation into the spring and fall shoulder seasons while reducing seaborne visitation during our already busy summer season. We have witnessed the effect of the voluntary caps since 2008 and further adjusted by the Town under the Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs) in 2022.

It is crucial for all of us to rely on thorough research supported by empirical evidence (including, for example,  multiple economic and pedestrian impact studies published by Dr. Todd Gabe of the University of Maine) and to disseminate accurate information about any other impacts of ocean-based tourism such as air and water quality studies (demonstrating the lack of impact on local resources). Good and verifiable information provides a sound foundation for a good, open, and data-driven public process.

There is no verified support for the severe daily per person limits imposed by the Initiated Ordinance.  There is also no data-driven support for the claims in the “Purposes” section of the Initiative relating to public health and safety claims presented to the Town in March 2022.  Most importantly, the Initiative and the resulting town Ordinance restricts visits by cruise ships to 1,000 persons per day (whether passengers or crew) that would apply every day of the year.  It does so without regard to the level or intensity of land-based transportation (which all acknowledge is up to 90% of the visits to Bar Harbor each year) and without any realistic plan to address land-based visitation.  Instead, it discriminates against only cruise ship visitation.

The drastic effect of the Ordinance on cruise ship visits to Bar Harbor (as published by Cruise Maine and the Town of Bar Harbor in September 2022) has been supported by evidence that the 1,000 person daily limit will eliminate 95% of cruise ship visitors coming into Bar Harbor. The truth is that it is simply not possible for the vast majority of cruise lines to include Bar Harbor on their itineraries if they cannot offer an opportunity for all passengers and staff to disembark.  The Ordinance will likely therefore eliminate cruise ship visitation into Bar Harbor altogether.

Instead of this arbitrary and inflexible 1000 person limit being applied every day of the year, APPLL supports and agrees with the use of voluntary caps that are the products of collaborative, inclusive, and open public discussions. Those have been in place since 2008 in order to maintain a healthy and balanced level of cruise ship visitation.  APPLL does not endorse unbridled or unlimited visitation by visitors regardless of mode of transportation nor do we support everyone visiting all at once. 

In that regard, during the 2023 season, APPLL respects that the Town is relying on the caps in place.   All visitors and the businesses and residents of Bar Harbor benefit from balanced and common sense levels of visitation especially during the crucial shoulder seasons.   APPLL and its members stand ready to work with the Town and its residents to address balanced cruise ship visitation that will support our member businesses and employees consistent with Bar Harbor’s tradition of open and welcoming hospitality.