Managing Svalbard Tourism: Inconsistencies and Conflicts of Interest

The Svalbard Archipelago has experienced a rapid increase in tourism-related activities over thepast few decades. The Norwegian Government’s ambition to develop the Archipelago’s tourismindustry offers multiple socio-economic opportunities. The development and scope of thesetourism activities is affected by a complex governance system that entails strict environmentalregulation and preparedness considerations. To understand the balance of goals across the nationaland international policy levels, we have mapped, reviewed, and analyzed the national and internationalregulations and agreements that affect tourism activities on Svalbard. The documentanalysis reveals the framework of natural and environmental consideration, access to areas andpassage, requirements for organized outdoor activities, and regulatory tools. We discovered conflictsand internal inconsistencies in the way that Svalbard tourism has developed. It has beenshaped by both economic growth and environmental preservation, without any specific businessdevelopment objectives and goals or acceptable limits of environmental and social change in place.For tourism stakeholders, this might complicate any rational assessment of the balance betweeneconomic development and environmental status. The challenges we have identified are specific toSvalbard, but are likely to be similar in many other Arctic locations involved in tourism.Svalbard, regulations, environment, sustainability, tourism, cruise, governance, Arctic

Til publikasjon: https://doi.org/10.23865/arctic.v14.5113, https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3114586, https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3154295, https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3066698 | Publiseringsår: 2023 | Tidsskrift: Arctic Review on Law and Politics