Exploring the final frontiers: Cruise tourism in polar regions.

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 183
Author(s):  
Ayesha Tulloch
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Social Sustainability ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Polar Regions ◽  
Cruise Ship ◽  
Cruise Industry ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Cruise Tourism ◽  
Negative Impacts

CRUISE ship tourism is expanding rapidly in both the Arctic and Antarctic, with increased numbers and types of vessels, more demanding routes, and yearround activity as the final frontiers are opened to all types of visitors. The increase in access and in cruise activities, risks of accidents and negative impacts, and the effects of the large numbers of tourists in the polar regions bring significant management challenges for sustainable use of polar regions. In this timely context, Lück, Maher and Stewart have collected a range of discussions and viewpoints of the environmental and social sustainability issues concerning the cruise industry in polar regions.

Monitoring Svalbard’s environment and cultural heritage through citizen science by expedition cruises

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Poulsen
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Polar Regions ◽  
Science Program ◽  
Cruise Ship ◽  
Cruise Ships

<p><strong>Monitoring Svalbard’s environment and cultural heritage through citizen science by expedition cruises</strong></p><p>Michael K. Poulsen1, Lisbeth Iversen2, Ted Cheeseman3, Børge Damsgård4, Verena Meraldi5, Naja Elisabeth Mikkelsen6, Zdenka Sokolíčková7, Kai Sørensen8, Agnieszka Tatarek9, Penelope Wagner10, Stein Sandven2, and Finn Danielsen1</p><p>1NORDECO, 2NERSC, 3PCSC, 4UNIS, 5Hurtigruten, 6GEUS, 7University of Oslo, 8NIVA, 9IOPAN, 10MET Norway</p><p><strong>Why expedition cruise monitoring is important for Svalbard. </strong>The Arctic environment  is changing fast, largely due to increasing temperatures and human activities. The continuous areas of wilderness and the cultural heritage sites in Svalbard need to be managed based on a solid understanding.</p><p>The natural environment of Svalbard is rich compared to other polar regions. Historical remains are plentiful. The Svalbard Environmental Protection Act aims at regulating hunting, fishing, industrial activities, mining, commerce and tourism. Expedition cruises regularly reach otherwise rarely visited places.</p><p><strong>Steps taken to improve environmental monitoring. </strong>A workshop for enhancing the environmental monitoring efforts of expedition cruise ships was held in Longyearbyen in 2019, facilitated by the INTAROS project and the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators  (https://intaros.nersc.no/content/cruise-expedition-monitoring-workshop) with representatives of cruise operators, citizen science programs, local government and scientists. They agreed on a pilot assessment of monitoring programs during 2019.</p><p><strong>Results show the importance of cruise ship observations. </strong>The provisional findings of the pilot assessment suggest thatexpedition cruises go almost everywhere around Svalbard and gather significant and relevant data on the environment, contributing for example to an improved understanding of thestatus and distribution of wildlife. Observations are often documented with photographs. More than 150 persons contributed observations during 2019 to eBird and Happywhale. iNaturalist, not part of the pilot assessment, also received many contributions. The pilot assessment was unable to establish a useful citizen science program for testing monitoring of cultural remains.</p><p><strong>Conclusions relevant for monitoring and environmental management. </strong>Cruise ships collect environmental data that are valuable for the scientific community and for public decision-makers. The Governor of Svalbard isresponsible for environmental management in Svalbard. Data on the environment and on cultural remains from expedition cruises can be useful for the Governor’s office. Improved communication between citizen science programs and those responsible for environmental management decisions is likely to increase the quantity of relevant information that reaches public decision makers.</p><p><strong>Recommendations for improving the use of cruise ship observations and monitoring.</strong></p><ul><li>1) All cruise expedition ships should be equipped with tablets containing the apps for the same small selection of citizen scienceprograms so that they can easily upload records.</li> <li>2) Evaluation of data that can be created and how such data can contribute to monitoring programs, to ensure that data is made readily available in a form that is useful for institutions responsible for planning and improving environmental management.</li> <li>3) Clear lines of communication between citizen science program participants, citizen science program organizers, the scientific community and decision makers should be further developed.</li> <li>4) Developing expedition cruise monitoring is of high priority in Svalbard, but is also highly relevant to other polar regions.</li> <li>5) Further work is necessary to fully understand the feasibility and potential of coordinated expedition cruise operator based environmental observing in the Arctic.</li> </ul>

scholarly journals Apocalypse Now or Overreaction to Coronavirus: The Global Cruise Tourism Industry Crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 6968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Radic ◽  
Rob Law ◽  
Michael Lück ◽  
Haesang Kang ◽  
Antonio Ariza-Montes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Cruise Ship ◽  
Cruise Industry ◽  
Cruise Ships ◽  
Cruise Tourism ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Managerial Implications ◽  
Systematic Failure ◽  
Cruise Lines

The current COVID-19 cruise tourism crisis has evolved to epic proportions and placed some of the cruise lines on the verge of bankruptcy. This research aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the crisis. Using an inductive qualitative approach, interviews were conducted with eight frequent cruisers who were at home and eight cruise ship employees who were employed by various cruise companies and who were working on cruise ships during the COVID-19 cruise tourism crisis. The findings revealed a systematic failure within the cruise industry management to understand the COVID-19 pandemic. Results of this study highlight the importance of health-related perceived risks on the nature and impact of the COVID-19 cruise tourism crisis. This study supports the overall theory of cruise tourism and crisis management by extending the chaos theory and its principals on the COVID-19 cruise tourism crisis. The managerial implications for cruise lines are outlined.

scholarly journals Cruise visitors in Agios Nikolaos, Greece. Characteristics, preferences, satisfaction, and overall experience

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-99
Author(s):  
Evangelia Simantiraki ◽  
Maria Skivalou ◽  
Nikolaos Trihas
Keyword(s):  
Cruise Ship ◽  
Local Economies ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
Cruise Industry ◽  
Travel Motivation ◽  
Academic Researchers ◽  
Cruise Tourism ◽  
Intention To Revisit ◽  
The Town

AbstractThe cruise industry is exhibiting a steady significant growth during the recent years worldwide, and it is assessed to have remarkable economic implications for the local economies. The quality of cruise visitors’ experiences at a destination is crucial for the inclusion of that destination on the cruise itineraries. The aim of this paper is to investigate the cruise ship visitors’ off-board experiences in a Mediterranean port of call – Agios Nikolaos on the island of Crete, Greece, providing a better understanding of the main features of cruise customers’ behaviour and expectations from a port of call. Primary research was conducted at the port of Agios Nikolaos during the 2014 cruise season. The 306 filled questionnaires provided useful information related to the visitors’ demographic characteristics, travel motivation, destination perception, satisfaction, and intention to revisit and recommend the town to others. The findings and discussion of this study are useful to the tourism authorities of Agios Nikolaos and other Mediterranean ports of call with similar characteristics, which wish to maximise the benefits of cruise tourism, to industry practitioners, and academic researchers interested in cruise tourism.

scholarly journals Iceland’s bourgeoning cruise industry: An economic opportunity or a local threat?

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Fridriksson ◽  
Nicholas Wise ◽  
Peter Scott
Keyword(s):  
Social Consequences ◽  
Environmental Costs ◽  
Cruise Ship ◽  
Tourism Planning ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Cruise Industry ◽  
Remote Areas ◽  
Mass Tourism ◽  
Cruise Tourism

The cruise industry is the fastest growing component of mass tourism and is a key contributor to overtourism. The cruise industry is having a very significant impact on the country of Iceland, as cruises take people to some of the country’s most remote areas. In Iceland, the increase has been even more dramatic, with cruise ship arrivals increasing by over 91% (between 2015 and 2019) in Iceland’s small northern town of Akureyri and its surrounding ports. This paper is critical of the expansion of cruise tourism in Iceland despite the potential economic impacts of cruise ship tourism. Scholars argue the need to consider economic gains alongside environmental costs and social consequences that disrupt communities. This in perspective paper considers current economic, environmental and social impacts of cruise ship arrivals in Iceland before outlining some recommendations that align with environmentally friendly practices for policy makers to consider going forward. The triple bottom line framework is widely considered in tourism planning, and this paper seeks to connect the economic, social and environmental dimensions of tourism in a sustainable way to look at the present situation in Iceland and address policy considerations going forward.

scholarly journals Arctic expedition cruise tourism and citizen science: a vision for the future of polar tourism

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-111
Author(s):  
Audrey R. Taylor ◽  
Þórný Barðadóttir ◽  
Sarah Auffret ◽  
Annette Bombosch ◽  
Allison Lee Cusick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Science Data ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cruise Industry ◽  
Cruise Tourism

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework for using citizen science – defined as a data collection method through which non-professionals engage in contributing to authentic scientific inquiry – within the expedition cruise industry to contribute significantly to the collection of environmental data from hard-to-access Arctic areas. Design/methodology/approach The authors review trends in Arctic expedition cruise tourism and current needs in Arctic research and monitoring, and clarify where the expedition cruise tourism industry could have the most impact by providing data to the scientific community. The authors also compare the regulatory context in the Antarctic to that in the Arctic and discuss how these differences could affect the widespread use of citizen science. At last, the authors describe some general principles for designing citizen science programs to be successful on board, and highlight several existing programs that are being recognized for their contributions to a greater scientific understanding of the Arctic. Findings The authors find that citizen science data from the expedition cruise industry are underutilized as a tool for monitoring Arctic change. Numerous examples illustrate how citizen science programs on-board expedition ships can successfully collect robust scientific data and contribute to enhancing the knowledge and stewardship capacity of cruise passengers. Inclusion of citizen science data from the expedition cruise industry should be considered a critical part of international Arctic observing networks and systems. Social implications Active participation in Arctic citizen science by tourists on expedition cruise ships has many potential benefits beyond the collection of high quality data, from increasing passengers’ knowledge and understanding of the Arctic while on board, to affecting their attitudes and behaviors after they return home. Originality/value The potential for tourism to contribute to Arctic observing systems has been discussed previously in the scientific literature; the authors narrow the focus to citizen science programs in the expedition cruise industry, and provide concrete examples, in the hope that this will streamline acceptance and implementation of these ideas by researchers and tourism practitioners.

The cruise tourism industry in the Canadian Arctic: analysis of activities and perceptions of cruise ship operators

Polar Record ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Lasserre ◽  
Pierre-Louis Têtu
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Cruise Ship ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Northwest Passage ◽  
Cruise Tourism ◽  
Response To Change ◽  
Maritime Infrastructure

ABSTRACTWith the melting of sea ice in the Arctic, the potential for higher shipping access has markedly changed. Shipping activity in the Arctic is increasing, including tourism and exploration activities, underlining the need for reliable communication and monitoring. This article examines the interactions between climate and sea ice change, the patterns of cruise ship tourism through Arctic Canada and the interest of operators to increase their activities in the cruise tourism market in the region. Since 1995, the melting of the summer pack ice in the offers the possibilities of increased shipping in this region while encouraging speculation regarding the potential of the northwest passage (NWP) and the Canadian Arctic to become a major cruise maritime highway. Integrating research from both human and transport geography, this article presents an analysis of vessel movements. It also analyses perceptions of charters and cruise ship operators and of their interests in the cruise tourism market. Discussion is focused on issues associated with the lack of available vessels and maritime infrastructure, regulations in the Canadian arctic waters, security and search and rescue. This research could prove useful for communities, and policy makers, as well as the cruise sector itself, with regard to response to change in these remote locations.

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