Tourism, People and Protected Areas in Polar Wilderness

 
Polar areas have recently raised enormous interest from various directions. Geopolitical struggle over resources and growing concern regarding the impacts of climate change on polar environments are only two reasons for the increasing awareness directed towards polar areas often focusing the regions' ecological vulnerability.

These changes are intertwined with issues related to human mobility and here particularly the role of tourism can be highlighted. The remoteness of the polar areas promises tourists extreme climatic conditions, undisturbed wilderness, authentic heritage and exotism. These factors have been successfully used to lure an increasing number of tourists into the polar regions. Hence meanwhile desired by national and regional governments and also some communities as a way of achieving regional development and sustaining livelihoods for polar peoples, the growing numbers of tourists have created concern among environmentalists, academics and locals. Obviously, the needs and desires of tourists collide with local subsistence, global conservation interest and other resource exploitation. Hence in some cases mining, tourism, nature protection and indigenous traditions compete for the same spaces. The idea of ‘peripheral' polar areas is thus increasingly contested and in the light of global change polar areas have been moved into the center of interest as never before.

This forms the background for the 2nd conference of the International Polar Tourism Research Network in Abisko, Sweden. This conference puts focus on the interrelationship of tourism development and polar communities and environments. Papers should address issues related to the following topics:

• Tourism and regional development in polar areas
• Tourism and indigenous peoples in polar areas
• Tourism and cultural change in polar areas
• Tourism and nature protection in polar areas
• Polar ecotourism and nature-based tourism
• Polar cruise tourism
• Polar mass tourism
• Science tourism
• Tourism and resource conflicts in polar areas
• Polar tourism experiences and their interpretation
• Management and planning for polar tourism
• Geopolitics of polar tourism
• Polar tourism history
• Constructions of polar tourism spaces

... or any other topic relevant for the topic of the conference Abstract submissions addressing both theoretical and empirical issues are welcomed. A review process will be applied to ensure high-quality contributions to the conference. Moreover, the location of the conference in the sub-polar region of Sweden and the subsequent logistical limitations imply that only a limited number of delegates can be accepted for the conference.

The conference is organized by the Department of Social and Economic Geography, Umeå University, Sweden, on behalf of the INPTRN (http://www.polartourismnetwork.uqam.ca/ ).

The venue for the conference is the Abisko Scientific Research Station (http://www.linnea.com/~ans/). Accommodation is thus in shared rooms. The expected cost for the conference including accommodation and all meals is 3500 SEK (ca. 320 € - to be confirmed)