Résumé
In recent years, the growth of cruise tourism has often been at the centre of controversy due to the environmental impact, especially for those harbours that, for historical and urban planning reasons, are in close contact with urban areas of particular value or under cultural heritage protection. The deadlock of cruise activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic emergency created the conditions for observing the effects of the substantial disappearance of a specific sound source from the harbours of many cities. This paper presents the evaluation of the contribution of large cruise ships to the overall noise emitted by a specialized cruise harbour and the consequences of their absence on the urban acoustic climate. © International Institute of Acoustics and Vibration (IIAV), 2022.