ABSTRACT
Introduction Consistent with cruise-ship activity in other polar locations, the number of cruise vessels visiting the Canadian Arctic has increased substantially since 2006, when the number of cruise ships doubled from 11 cruises in 2005 to 22 cruises in 2006 (Buhasz 2006). This trajectory of growth was expected to continue during the 2008 summer cruise season, when the Canadian Arctic was projected to host 26 separate cruises. These fi gures illustrate considerable and sustained growth in this niche cruise sector. The number of anticipated cruises in 2008 is particularly impressive given the absence of the MS Explorer, the veteran polar cruise vessel who before her sinking off the Antarctic Peninsula in the 2007 Austral summer was a regular visitor to Arctic Canada. This growth of the cruise sector in Arctic Canada confi rms observations from elsewhere that the ocean environment has become one of the fastest-growing areas of the world’s tourism industry (Miller and Auyong 1991; Orams 1999; Hall 2001).
