Tourism and Change in Polar Regions

The world's polar regions are attracting more interest than ever before. Once regarded as barren, inhospitable places where only explorers go, the north and south polar regions have been transformed into high profile tourism destinations, increasingly visited by cruise ships as well as becoming accessible with direct flights. Tourism is seen as one of the few economic opportunities in these regions but at the same time the polar regions are being opened up to tourism development they are being affected by a number of new factors that are interconnected to travel and tourism. Climate change, landscape and species loss, increasing interest in energy resources and minerals, social changes in indigenous societies, and a new polar geopolitics all bring into question the sustainability of polar regions and the place of tourism within them.

Part 1: The Context 1. Tourism and Change in the Polar Regions: Introduction - Definitions, Locations, Places and Dimensions (C. Michael Hall & Jarkko Saarinen) 2. Tourism and Environmental Change in Polar Regions: Impacts, Climate Change and Biological Invasion (Hall) Part 2: Tourism and Change in the Northern Polar Regions 3. Cruise Tourism in Arctic Canada: Navigating a Warming Climate (E.J. Stewart, S.E.L. Howell, D. Draper, J. Yackel & A. Tivy) 4. Climate Change and Polar Bear Viewing: A Case Study of Visitor Demand, Carbon Emissions and Mitigation in Churchill, Canada (Jackie Dawson, Emma Stewart & Daniel Scott) 5. Climate Disruption and the Changing Dynamics of Polar Bear - Human Interactions in Northern Ontario: A Case Study of Polar Bear Management in Polar Bear Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada (Raynard Harvey Lemelin, Norman McIntyre, Rhonda Koster & Margaret Johnston) 6. Cruise Tourist Experiences and Management Implications for Auyuittuq, Sirmilik and Quttinirpaaq National Parks, Nunavut, Canada (Patrick T. Maher) 7. A Holiday on Ice on Hold? Nature-based Tourism and Climate Change in the Nordic North (Linda Lundmark) 8. Sustainability and Emerging Awareness of a Changing Climate: The Tourism Industry's Knowledge and Perceptions of the Future of Nature-based Winter Tourism in Finland (Kaarina Tervo & Saarinen) 9. Constraints and Opportunities in the Development of Diamond Tourism in Yellowknife, NWT (Jamie Noakes & Margaret Johnston) Part 3: Tourism and Change in the Southern Polar Regions 10. Cultural heritage tourism in Antarctica and Svalbard: Patterns, Impacts, and Policies (Ricardo Roura) 11. Narratives of history, environment and global change: expeditioner-tourists in Antarctica (Mark Nuttall) 12. "Awesome size...magnitude of the place...the incredible beauty...": Visitors' onsite experiences in the Ross Sea region of Antarctica (Maher) 13. Images of Antarctica and Ushuaia (Argentina) as a Gateway Port: Antarctic Visitors and Their Expectations (Marisol) 14. Business as (Un)Usual: Integrated Scenario Analysis for Tourism in Antarctica (Machiel Lamers, Bas Amelung & Jan H. Stel) 15. Tourism, Conservation and Visitor Management in the Sub-Antarctic Islands (Hall and Sandra Wilson) Part 4: Conclusions and Future Issues 16. Contested Place and the Legitimization of Sovereignty through Tourism in Polar Regions (Dallen J. Timothy) 17. Last Chance to See? Future Issues for Polar Tourism and Change (Hall & Saarinen)