The project will study how the travel industry in Svalbard can create new and sustainable development opportunities that respond to the various transformative changes that both society and nature in Svalbard are undergoing, while maintaining a viable local community and protecting nature. 

The project is a collaboration between the Svalbard-based tourism operators AECO and Visit Svalbard, and Researchers from Nordland Research, Vestland Research, Unis, NINA and Brown University.

Tourism in Svalbard must deal with demands and pressures from Norwegian administration and Svalbard policy, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement, climate change and local people's attitudes towards tourism. The project will study the room for manoeuvre that arises when the tourism industry must balance these different demands and pressures, and provide new insight into the extent to which policy and management can contribute to or limit economic development opportunities and nature conservation.

The project's results will be instrumental in developing sustainable tourism activities and products. Such products include activities where tourists participate in environmental or community activities, and activities where tourists gain a better understanding of the connections in ecosystems that can in turn contribute to changes in sustainable behavior among tourists.

The project will contribute knowledge to the discussion on future development of Svalbard policy and the national discourse on trade-offs between environmental and climate concerns and local tourism-based value creation. The project has a clear co-production approach to knowledge and will arrange a summer course for PhD students in Svalbard.

Scientific publications

• Impacts of climate and environmental change on tourism in Svalbard

• “I'm Fixing a Hole Where the Rain Gets in, and Stops My Mind from Wandering”: Approaching Sustainable Climate Change Adaptations

• Coping with rapid and cascading changes in Svalbard: the case of nature-based tourism in Svalbard

• The transformative potential of local-level planning and climate policies. Case studies from Norwegian municipalities

• Sustainable Tourism in Svalbard: Balancing economic growth, sustainability, and environmental governance