# Arctic Tourism



## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Tourism, both bane and bonanza for Arctic researchers *
8 May 2009
Agence France Presse









_Source : http://www.pbase.com/pierredunnigan/polarseaadventure _

Coping with blizzards and polar bears is part of daily life for researchers in the Arctic, but what really gets under their skin is the hordes of tourists who arrive in diesel-spouting cruise ships -- even though they bring much-needed cash.

In Ny-Aalesund, an international research station in the remote Svalbard archipelago off northern Norway, the terms of the equation are well-known but that does not make them any easier for the scientists to crack.

"More tourists means more money but also more pollution," says Bendik Eithun Halgunset, a research adviser for the Kings Bay company that manages the site.

On some summer days, between 2,000 and 3,000 visitors arrive here, camera equipment slung over their shoulders.

The crowds invade the tranquil town nestled between fjords and mountains where the only sound to be heard is normally that of snowmobile engines rumbling past.

It can be a little overwhelming for the 180 researchers who work in the world's most northernmost town.

"It's a bit surreal. All of a sudden you have 20 times as many tourists as scientists here," says Dorothea Schulze, a German engineer at the Norwegian Polar Institute.

Each cruise ship that docks in Ny-Aalesund leads to a surge in carbon dioxide emissions, sending the station's atmospheric measuring equipment into a tizzy.

In one day, the ships can release more pollution than the town's diesel-run power station emits in one year.

"The visitors themselves don't directly influence scientific investigations but their ships are quite polluting," explains Marcus Schumacher, the head of the French-German research institute Avipev which conducts atmospheric studies among other things.

"This makes it harder to interpret our data," he adds.

It is also difficult to keep an eye on the tourists, even though they are strictly confined to the town limits due to the risk of encounters with the polar bears that roam the area, drawn by the smell of seal carcasses used to feed local dogs.

And the tourists, often retirees from the United States or Europe, occasionally leave mixed feelings behind.

"It has happened that visitors have handed us apples," Halgunset says, explaining that tourists mistakenly think the town is completely cut off from the outside world.

"Or they feed the polar foxes, or they put their hands on multi-million dollar equipment. There's also been some looting of old artefacts that they pick up to take back home," he adds.

In Ny-Aalesund, where everyone knows everyone, no one locks their front door. Which is not always a good idea.

"We have had visitors come into our bedrooms and take pictures," Halgunset recalls.

But the money spent by tourists is much needed, representing 4.0 to 5.0 million kroner out of an annual operating budget of around 37 million kroner (4.3 million euros, 5.6 million dollars).

"This makes it possible to keep the price low for scientists," explains Schumacher.

Keen to avoid a reputation as hermits spending taxpayers' money in secret laboratories, the scientists are eager to maintain ties with the outside world to make their work more understandable and accessible to the general public.

"One solution would be maybe to ban large ships and only accept expedition ships with fewer but more knowledge-hungry people," says Halgunset.

"But then again the risk would be that these large ships land somewhere else on Svalbard and we wouldn't be there to keep things under control," he adds.


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## VelesHomais (Sep 1, 2004)

"We have had visitors come into our bedrooms and take pictures," Halgunset recalls. :lol:

I'd love to go on arctic tourist trips though


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Clinton to host first Arctic-Antarctic meeting *
1 April 2009
Agence France Presse

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton next week will host the first diplomatic meeting concerning the use of both the Arctic and Antarctic, her department said Wednesday.

Clinton will preside over the first joint session of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) and the Arctic Council on April 6 in Baltimore, Maryland, according to a press release from the State Department.

The joint meeting brings "together the two most important bodies involved with diplomacy at the Poles," the statement said.

"Ministers and other high-ranking officials will discuss accomplishments of the International Polar Year, an international and interdisciplinary undertaking that has mobilized thousands of researchers from more than 60 countries, to work on more than 160 projects in the polar regions," it said.

"US participation in International Polar Year included research conducted by a range of federal agencies," it added.

These include the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautic and Space Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the US Geological Survey, it said.

The joint meeting occurs as the ATCM begins its 32nd meeting in Baltimore from April 6-17 which is expected to draw nearly 400 diplomats, Antarctic program managers and logistics experts, and polar scientists from 47 countries.

Delegates to the Antarctic talks are "to discuss several issues, including environmental protection, the advancement of science, and the management of tourism," the statement said.

The ATCM meeting also occurs on the 50th anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty, which was signed in Washington.

It "will note its historic significance as the first modern multilateral arms control treaty," which stipulates that Antarctica be used "for peaceful purposes only and guarantees freedom of scientific investigation."

The United States championed the treaty during the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

During the ATCM meeting, US delegates propose to "limit the size of vessels that can land passengers in Antarctica and to establish higher standards for the use of lifeboats aboard tourist vessels that visit Antarctica," it said.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Global warming impacting Greenlanders' daily lives*
9 July 2009
Agence France Presse

From his trawler that motors along the Nuuk fjord, fisherman Johannes Heilmann has watched helplessly in recent years as climate change takes its toll on Greenland.

Global warming is occurring twice as fast in the Arctic as in the rest of the world.

Heilmann, in his 60s with a craggy, rugged face from years of work in the outdoors, says he and his colleagues can no longer take their dogsleds out to the edge of the ice floes to fish because the ice isn't thick enough to carry the weight.

And yet the freezing waters with large chunks of ice are too difficult to navigate in their small fishing boats, making fishing near impossible.

"We can't use the sleds any more, the ice isn't thick enough," laments Heilmann, saying he now has to rely on bird hunting, and sometimes seal hunting, while waiting for the summer months to go fishing.

At Ilulissat, more than 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of the Arctic Circle, Emil Osterman tells local daily Sermitsiaq how "in 1968, when I was 13, we went fishing in December in the fjord and the ice was several metres thick."

Now, more than 40 years on, the ice at the very same location at the same time of year "is only 30 centimetres thick."

The head of Nuuk's fishing and hunting association, Leif Fontaine, explains how climate warming is also affecting the region's shrimp industry -- Greenland's main export and biggest industrial sector.

"When the water gets warmer, the shrimp become rarer as they move further north," he says.

"And the melting ice is worrying, especially for the residents of isolated villages in the north and the east who only have sleds and no boats to hunt, fish and survive," he adds.

That has forced some hunters to let their sleddogs starve to death, since they can't provide them with the seals and fish they need to eat.

Polar bears that roam the ice also have an increasingly difficult time finding food, especially seals, as the ice floes melt. As a result they end up approaching villages in search of nourishment, presenting a danger to the locals and themselves.

In Nuuk, residents like Nana Pedersen and Sofus Moeller, two recent high school graduates, are worried about the changes to the climate.

They recall a snowstorm that took place on June 20 -- rare even for Greenland.

Moeller says he is "worried" about the changes, but admits that he doesn't think about it every day.

"I don't know if it's warmer than before, since winter after all lasts until May here," he says.

But at the new Arctic research centre in Nuuk, director Soeren Rysgaard has no doubts that climate change is having an impact.

"It's very visible in the Arctic."

Fishermen who pull up fewer fish in their nets or who can no longer fish in certain areas because the ice is too thin are those most affected right now, he says.

But the speaker of the local parliament, Josef Motzfeldt, notes that global warming has also brought "some good."

A growing number of tourists have come to Greenland to see how climate change is causing the North Atlantic island's enormous glaciers to melt, and new species never before found in Greenland are turning up, such as sea urchins and squid.

In southern Greenland, the longer summers are benefiting vegetable farmers, who are experiencing some of their most lucrative times.

"Trees are growing and the fields are full of potatoes, lettuce, carrots and cabbage" to be sold at the local market, explains Anders Iversen, who heads a plant nursery near Qaqotorq in the south.

Temperatures are warmer now, with the mercury sometimes rising above 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) in summer, he says.

"If global warming continues, we will be able to grow even more kinds of vegetables during a longer season," he adds.

The farmers' hopes could soon be confirmed by new worrying observations in Greenland's far north.

The Arctic Sunrise, a ship belonging to environmental group Greenpeace, has recently arrived at the Petermann glacier, one of the region's biggest glaciers that is in the process of breaking up, where experts will study its developments.

For Greenpeace, the shrinking of the glacier is a clear sign that global warming is no longer "a theory, but a harsh reality."


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## isakres (May 13, 2009)

VelesHomais said:


> "We have had visitors come into our bedrooms and take pictures," Halgunset recalls. :lol:
> 
> ^^:...WTF? :lol:
> 
> An arctic trip would be very COOL......literally :lol:.....too bad all the ice is melting away...hno:


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## Imperfect Ending (Apr 7, 2003)

I would go but there's not much to see


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

_Meanwhile, on the other side of the world : _

*Economic downturn puts freeze on Antarctic tourism*

ON BOARD THE ORION, Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica, Jan 4 (Reuters) - The economic downturn has frozen tourists' enthusiasm to travel to one of Australia's most remote and inhospitable Antarctic outposts with tourism operators reporting a sharp downturn in bookings.

In January 2009 the Australian Antarctic Division reported a record five cruise ships carrying over 400 visitors visited the site of the Mawson's Huts in Cape Denison, base of one of the most significant expeditions in Antarctic history.

However, only one cruise company, Australia-based Orion Expedition Cruises, was expected to visit the remote outpost in January this year, carrying about 96 visitors.

"We've had a slower year based on the recession. That means Antarctica hasn't been in the front of people's minds," Chris Perkins, sales and marketing manager for Orion Expedition Cruises, told Reuters on board the polar cruiser The Orion.

Commercial Antarctic tourism dates back to the late 1960s but interest surged in the late 1980s, leading to a wide range of tourist and adventure activities -- and prompting a list of regulations to protect the pristine Antarctic environment.

Orion Expedition Cruises runs an 18-day trip that visits the historic wooden Mawson's Huts, set up by geologist Douglas Mawson who led an Australasian Antartic expedition from 1911 to 1914, as well as Port Martin, the site of 100 grounded icebergs.

But if the tag price of between $19,000 to $40,500 is not a deterrent then the idea of spending seven days crossing the gruelling Southern Ocean to visit one of the world's most inhospitable regions can be off-putting to many travellers.

Some, however, are determined to make the trip to Cape Denison in east Antarctica, with the voyage best undertaken in the southern hemisphere summer between late December and March.

"As far as the economic climate goes, that goes up and down, but I'm getting older and that means I've only got a limited time to do all the things I've want to do," Fred Pernat, a tourist from Melbourne, Australia, told Reuters on board The Orion.

"I suppose I've got a bucket list and coming to Antarctica is one of the things I've always wanted to do."

Rising tourist numbers have sparked a debate on the pros and cons of commercial visitors to the remote wilderness of east Antarctica which is far less accessible than the Antarctic Peninsula that is a two-day sea trip from South America.

But while the risk of contamination to the environment is always a possibility, tourism to the area is bound by strict guidelines set out in the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO).

Professor Pat Quilty of the University of Tasmania says tourism is not doing as much damage to Antarctica as research stations, which can be occupied by up to 1,000 people in summer.

"It's very clear that whatever humanity does is going to have some effect. The question is whether it's transitory," said Quilty.

In order to minimise the impact of tourism in the area, Orion Expeditions has designed its five star cruise ship to operate on low fuel and carry a mini-decimalization plant which reduces the amount of water used and carries all "grey water" or sewage back to port for disposal.

"We don't dump anything. Nothing goes over the side," said Perkins.


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## jonemere (Jan 5, 2010)

In October we formed the Sustainable Arctic Tourism Association with member all around the Arctic. This took place at a conference in northern Finland.Our aim is to provide a forum for tourism operators and other stakeholders to launch a marketing label.And we like to get in touch with people and operators who would like to know more and maybe later become members of this association.


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## schmidt (Dec 5, 2002)

New York and Chicago are already too cold for me, let alone the Arctic!!!


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## Andres_RoCa (Mar 28, 2007)

Very interesting.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

United Nations Environment Programme
*The Arctic: where tourism meets conservation*

Arendal (Norway), 12 August 2010 - Greenland hit the headlines this week after a vast block of ice broke off from the country's Petermann Glacier. The 600-foot thick iceberg is around four times the size of Manhattan. Researchers monitoring the Greenland ice sheet have said it represents the largest single shedding of Greenland's ice sheet in fifty years.

Breakages from Greenland's ice sheet (a process known as 'calving'), are not uncommon and hundreds occur naturally every year. But the sheer size of the most recent separation from the ice sheet has once again focused attention on changing conditions in the Arctic.

GRID-Arendal in Norway, a collaborating centre of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), closely monitors changes in the Arctic climate and promotes conservation initiatives in the polar region.

Peter Prokosch, Director of GRID-Arendal, says the science world is in agreement that recent years have seen a net loss of ice mass in Greenland.

"Today, we are seeing a much faster rate of iceberg calving than in previous years", explains Mr. Prokosch. But as well as the losses in Greenland, Arctic sea ice, which covers the oceans around the North Pole, is melting at higher speeds every year. This means less ice remaining in late summer and subsequent habitat loss for polar bears and other species. A reduction in ice also means less 'white reflection' of solar energy, which contributes to further warming of the region.

Data from last month shows that the total sea ice cover in the Arctic was at its second-lowest level for July in over three decades. Last month, some 70,000 square kilometers of Arctic ice was lost through melting each day.

So what can be done to protect the Arctic's unique habitats? Those at the UNEP/GRID-Arendal centre believe a new brand of tourism could hold part of the answer.

Svalbard - a picturesque archipelago in the north of Norway - is a case in point. The region is a popular tourist destination and is usually the closest point that visitors can get to the North Pole, which lies 1000 kilometres away.

A joint campaign by conservation groups and tour operators in the 1990s has helped to establish protected areas in Svalbard and new laws that protect biodiversity. Native animal species such as polar bears now have protected status in Svalbard and the hunting of many species has been outlawed.

After witnessing this success on their doorstep, the team from the UNEP/GRID-Arendal centre developed the "Linking Tourism and Conservation" (LT&C) initiative. The project will investigate how sustainable tourism can help support the management and development of protected areas.

Later this month, UNEP/GRID-Arendal will host a study expedition to Svalbard for conservationists, journalists and members of the public. A further tour of Antarctica is planned for November, when participants will learn about the development of marine protected areas in the Southern hemisphere.

"Hardly anywhere else than in the Polar regions is it so easy to convince people to support and invest in protecting our planet", says Mr. Prokosch. "This is because the polar regions are the ideal place to see the link between the impact of climate change and biodiversity. Good examples, like this cold face of climate change, should inspire similar projects in other tourism areas."

UNEP/GRID-Arendal also plans to produce an interactive map of tourist destinations that are participating in conservation work. It is hoped that the map will encourage investment in tourism projects that support conservation and will allow tourists to view a destination's green credentials before finalising their trip.

Tourism represents both the challenges and opportunities for combating climate change and protecting biodiversity. As the UNEP/GRID-Arendal's expeditions set sail for Svalbard later this month, it is hoped that lessons learned in Norway will inspire conservation efforts from the Amazon to the Serengeti - and in many other tourist destinations across the globe.

For more information please on UNEP/GRID-Arendal's Linking Tourism and Conservation project, please visit www.grida.no/ltc 

http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=646&ArticleID=6717&l=en&t=long


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## stevensp (May 7, 2010)

Personaly I think Svalbard is a must see
if you see what architectural quality there is, and that in relationship with a enjoyable city and nice nature...
(I havent been there myself but I read about it, studied it, Im jsut very interested in that place)


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## ikops (Jun 12, 2008)

Imperfect Ending said:


> I would go but there's not much to see


There is a lot to see. Just keep your eyes open and watch.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

- edit


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## jackwormi (Apr 1, 2011)

Tourism is a recent development to the attention Arctic.Such is new to many people of the Arctic, but like most places in world.Tourism activities can be conducted so responsible, so that visitors learn to appreciate.


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## Lazy Traveler (Mar 16, 2011)

any other pictures? seems like arctic is amazing place to go..


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

Lazy Traveler said:


> any other pictures? seems like arctic is amazing place to go..


Try these links to start : 

*1. http://www.pbase.com/kevinophoto/greenland*









_Source : http://www.pbase.com/kevinophoto/image/118063711_

*2. http://www.pbase.com/kasper_stoholm/greenland*









_Source : http://www.pbase.com/kasper_stoholm/image/66794306_

*3. http://www.pbase.com/bauer/greenland_streams_of_ice*









_Source : http://www.pbase.com/bauer/image/123694658_


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