Feature Interview: The environmental and social impacts of Arctic tourism

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic @arctic_eq
Posted: Friday, September 26, 2014 at 19:28 — Last Updated: Monday, March 19, 2018 at 13:03
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The Clipper Adventurer cruise ship shown in 2010. The cruise ship passengers were stranded in the Arctic for almost two days before being rescued by the Canadian Coast Guard. (Canadian Coast Guard / The Canadian Press)

The changing Arctic climate has opened up business and economic opportunities in everything from resource development to shipping.

Erica Dingman, fellow at the World Policy Institute and director of the their Arctic in Context program. (Courtesy Erica Dingman)

Arctic tourism is also becoming an increasingly lucrative as interest grows in this remote part of the world.

Local Arctic communities can certainly benefit economically from this growing industry.

But a recent blog, titled The Price of “Discovering” the Arctic – Part I by Gianna De Filippis, and posted on the World Policy Institute website this month, suggests more attention should be paid to the environmental and social impacts of Arctic tourism.

To find out more about some of these issues, Eye on the Arctic’s Eilís Quinn spoke with Erica Dingman, a fellow at the World Policy Institute and director of the their Arctic in Context program:

Related stories from around the North:

Canada: Creating an economy in the North: Can tourism save this town?, Eye on the Arctic

Finland: Nature tourism in North Finland drawing Chinese tourists, Yle News

Greenland: Greenland inspires Arctic Bay, Canada tourism strategy, Eye on the Arctic

Iceland: Rejected by Iceland, billionaire sets sights on Arctic Finland for tourism project, Yle News

Russia: Creating links across the Arctic – A look back on the Beringia Arctic Games, Eye on the Arctic

Sweden: Is space tourism coming to Sweden’s Arctic?, Radio Sweden

United States: Passport troubles keep some athletes from Arctic Winter Games in Alaska, CBC News

Alaska, Canada, economy, environment, history, indigenous, international, Inuit, Society, tourism, travel, Work & Labour, World Policy Institute

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic

Eilís Quinn is an award-winning journalist and manages Radio Canada International’s Eye on the Arctic news cooperation project. Eilís has reported from the Arctic regions of all eight circumpolar countries and has produced numerous documentary and multimedia series about climate change and the issues facing Indigenous peoples in the North.

Her investigative report "Death in the Arctic: A community grieves, a father fights for change," about the murder of Robert Adams, a 19-year-old Inuk man from Arctic Quebec, received the silver medal for “Best Investigative Article or Series” at the 2019 Canadian Online Publishing Awards. The project also received an honourable mention for excellence in reporting on trauma at the 2019 Dart Awards in New York City.

Her report “The Arctic Railway: Building a future or destroying a culture?” on the impact a multi-billion euro infrastructure project would have on Indigenous communities in Arctic Europe was a finalist at the 2019 Canadian Association of Journalists award in the online investigative category.

Her multimedia project on the health challenges in the Canadian Arctic, "Bridging the Divide," was a finalist at the 2012 Webby Awards.

Her work on climate change in the Arctic has also been featured on the TV science program Découverte, as well as Le Téléjournal, the French-Language CBC’s flagship news cast.

Eilís has worked for media organizations in Canada and the United States and as a TV host for the Discovery/BBC Worldwide series "Best in China."

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The changing Arctic climate has opened up business and economic opportunities in everything from resource development to shipping.

Related stories from around the North:

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic

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