New Issues in Polar Tourism

Dieter K. Müller, Linda Lundmark, Raynald H. Lemelin

New Issues in Polar Tourism traces and analyzes a decade of growing interest in the polar regions, and the consequent challenges and opportunities of increasing tourist traffic in formerly remote and seldom-visited places. The book arises from the recently-formed International Polar Tourism Research Network (IPTRN), and documents the outcomes of its 2010 conference, held at Sweden’s Abisko Scientific Research Station. Opening with a review of the early history of polar tourism, the book discusses reasons for the rise in traffic to more than 12 million visitors to the Arctic (2006) and some 40,000 to the Antarctic (2009-10). These causes include “last chance” tourism inspired by increased media coverage of climate change, easier access to remote areas due to the shortening ice-season and the pursuit of tourism by destination areas seeking economic and employment opportunities. In...