ABSTRACT
Introduction Tourism in the polar tegions is a rapidly growing industry in terms of visitor, research, and political interest (see Maher 2007a; Maher and Stewart 2007; Snyder 2007; Snyder and Stonehouse 2007). The fi rst of these (visitor interest) is likely brought about by growing media interest in the polar regions because of recent events, both positive (the International Polar Year) and negative (the sinking of the MS Explorer and other recent cruise ship groundings). Specifi c to Canada’s Arctic, visitor numbers appear to be strong and in many cases growing (see Table 6.1) (see chapter 1). Table 6.1: Estimates of visitor numbers to the Canadian Arctic by Province/Territory. Location Estimates Study reference Nunavut • 13,000 visitors
Cruise tourism is a sector of the Canadian industry that is undergoing considerable growth, and while volume does not yet compare with cruise activities elsewhere some predict the rate of growth will rapidly accelerate in the near future (Dawson et al. 2009). Cruise tourism is also a concerning activity for researchers (see Maher 2007a; Stewart et al. 2005), and for policy-makers/management (see Stewart and Draper 2006; Marquez and Eagles 2007) (see also chapter 3).
