Scientific Articles and Book Chapters

Antarctic tourism has not only been growing in scale but also becoming more diverse, encompassing a wider range of recreational activities, facilities, destinations, and operators. This diversification complicates efforts to assess tourism’s implications for Antarctica and to determine how well they align with internationally agreed ambitions for human presence on the continent. The countries that jointly manage Antarctica have long debated how to address the diversification of Antarctic tourism, but have not yet been able to agree on criteria for assessing tourism activities. This paper develops an integrated value-driven and risk-based pre-assessment framework for Antarctic tourism activities. The framework draws on Antarctic experts’ evaluations of current tourism activities through a sorting exercise, the criteria guiding their evaluations, and how these are informed by the values and principles of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS). The paper argues that an effective framework should combine assessing whether activities align with the Antarctic context and its values with assessing potential risks to the environment, safety, and regulatory and management aspects. By combining these perspectives, the paper outlines a more integrated and proactive basis for managing Antarctic tourism.

This paper explores the ongoing development of products, activities, and experiences in the rapidly expanding Antarctic tourism industry and their potential implications for the production of Antarctic places. Informed by theories of place and placelessness, the paper identifies three particular place framings informed by tourism diversification: the compression of time and space, the detachment of Antarctica from Earth, and the progressive consumption of wilderness through luxury and comfort. The paper argues that these dynamics may contribute to a detachment from the ways in which Antarctic places are situationally and materially assembled, leading to the abstraction, simplification, and obfuscation of socio-material relations making for a place. The possible consequence is the transformation of the Antarctic into a placeless space of consumption. By emphasizing the detachment facilitated by certain prominent activities and infrastructure, the paper contributes to debates about tourism destination development, urging consideration of how tourism can be shaped to foster an appreciation of places in their own right.

This chapter explores the links between values in policy documents and the strategies for managing tourism that these enshrine by drawing on a comparison between Antarctica and the New Zealand/Aotearoa’s (NZ/A) sub-Antarctic islands. By focusing on how values are enacted through visitor management strategies and checking against actual tourism developments on the ground, the author elaborates on why certain policies entrenched in values are translated into intended outcomes in specific settings as opposed to others. The author argues that translating values and principles into visitor management strategies in the NZ/A sub-Antarctic islands has been central to limiting tourism diversification. In contrast, although many values and principles are cited in numerous instruments within the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), they have not played a significant role in shaping visitor management strategies. Consequently, this has led to a significant expansion in the diversification of tourism activities in the region. The chapter concludes by discussing the status of values in these two different management systems and reflecting on how values can be enacted through effective policy in the Antarctic.

A Antártica, frequentemente vista como uma das últimas fronteiras naturais intocadas do planeta, tem se tornado um destino turístico cada vez mais procurado. Muitas vezes, ao se falar sobre a pesquisa de turismo na Antártica, é comum surgir a pergunta: “Mas tem turismo na Antártica?”. Sim, tem, e os números não param de crescer. Segundo dados da Associação Internacional das Operadoras de Turismo Antártico (em inglês, IAATO), mais de 120 mil turistas visitaram o continente na temporada 2023/24. A pergunta que costuma vir em seguida é quase sempre a mesma: “Mas o que as pessoas fazem lá?”. E a resposta é: bom, muita coisa. O crescimento do turismo antártico se reflete não apenas no aumento do número de visitantes, mas também na diversificação das formas de viajar e das atividades e experiências oferecidas.

Beyond the growth in tourist numbers, tourism in the Antarctic has been rapidly diversifying over the last decades. This paper examines Antarctic tourism policy documents from 1961 to 2022 while exploring Antarctic tourism diversification’s historical development and current state. The paper frames Antarctic tourism diversification, clarifying its dimensions, expressed concerns, and suggested policy options for tourism management and regulation. The results reveal that policy discussions were often not aligned with the practice of tourism in the Antarctic, indicating a lack of a comprehensive understanding of its extent and dimensions. While Treaty Parties have long recognized and voiced several concerns over tourism diversification, they have achieved little progress toward regulation and concrete management actions. Market-based processes and policy indecisiveness, including inaction, strongly influence diversification processes. Given tourism’s increasing importance and potential effects, a structural understanding of tourism diversification, its ramifications, processes, and policy relationships is essential to proactively shape Antarctic tourism governance.

Antarctic tourism has been growing increasingly and diversifying over the past two decades. In parallel, Antarctic tourism scholarship has particularly focused on tourism development and management. This industry- and policy-focused research has neglected to address how these developments affect place-making processes in Antarctica. This article is grounded in conceptual developments of ‘Arctification’, a phenomenon that appears to have significant impacts on the making of the Arctic as a place (to visit) using specific narratives in tourism. Thus, this study expands these conceptual developments to Antarctic tourism by investigating tourism’s role in place-making in Antarctica through ‘Antarctification’. Four types of narratives emerge from tourism promotion materials constituting the core of Antarctification: Antarctica as a place (1) of exploration, (2) that is wild and empty, (3) of superlatives, and (4) needing environmental stewardship and ambassadorship. The use of these narratives locks Antarctica into particular imaginaries designed to attract visitors. Identifying these dominant narratives is critical, as they may markedly impact conservation agendas, Antarctic wildlife encounters, icescapes, and heritage.

This article identifies and further discusses key themes and insights from The Polar Journal Special Issue on Rights of Nature and the Antarctic. First, philosophical considerations in relation to RoN are examined, with a specific focus on Antarctica’s intrinsic value and the question of whether RoN can be seen as an ecocentric or anthropocentric concept. Next, the possible modalities of an Antarctic RoN approach are examined, including questions on who should be rights holders and what rights are involved, distinguishing between substantive and procedural rights. The analysis then turns to the question of how an Antarctic RoN approach would relate to the Antarctic Treaty System, with special attention to the draft Antarctica Declaration and the relationship between a RoN approach and the values and principles of the Antarctic Treaty and the Environmental Protocol. It is hoped that the discussions in this Special Issue will be a valuable addition to the ongoing debate regarding RoN worldwide and will contribute to the policy discussions on how to strengthen the protection of the Antarctic environment.

This Special Issue on Rights of Nature and the Antarctic aims to advance the scholarly discussion on Antarctic RoN. The authors discuss the concept of RoN and its relevance for the Antarctic, the interconnections between RoN and the recognition of Antarctica’s intrinsic value in the ATS, the question of who has rights or should be granted rights and what rights these could be (substantive and procedural). They also consider how the concept of Antarctic RoN relates to the ATS and what steps could or should be taken to realise the ideas of Antarctic RoN if desired. This Special Issue aims to foster an inclusive space for debate that benefits from diverse perspectives and includes contributions by academics with different backgrounds, including social science, philosophy, geography, and law. Unfortunately, it does not include Indigenous voices and knowledge. The editors have tried to involve Indigenous scholars in developing this Special Issue, but this has not been successful. Yet, it is acknowledged that their participation would have significantly enriched the discussions presented.

Values and principles are mentioned in numerous hard law and soft law instruments within the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS). However, no provision within any of the ATS instruments fully lists or describes them all. Moreover, their meaning is not elaborated upon or defined, and the relationships between values and principles are also not clearly stated. This paper aims to identify ATS values and principles by examining two hard law instruments: the Antarctic Treaty and the Protocol on Environmental Protection. Based on definitions of the concepts of ‘value’ and ‘principle’, the paper provides an overview of the values and principles included in these instruments and proposes a categorization. Through this examination, the authors aim to expand the comprehension and elucidation of the ATS values and principles while also stimulating further research on the topic. A more structural understanding and attention to the values and principles can prove fundamental in further shaping Antarctic governance and developing new regulatory instruments.

O Fórum Internacional de Turismo (FIT) é um projeto do IPDT ‑ Instituto de Planeamento e Desenvolvimento do Turismo, em parceria com a Porto e Norte de Portugal E.R., tendo o patrocínio do grupo Solverde, um dos maiores grupos hoteleiros de Portugal. Segundo os organizadores, o fórum, que é organizado anualmente desde 2004, tem como objetivo “a partilha de ideias e a discussão de dinâmicas para o turismo, apresentando propostas para o setor”. A XII edição do evento teve lugar em 16 de Fevereiro de 2017 em Vila Nova de Gaia. Estiveram presentes especialistas, académicos, jornalistas, empresários e políticos da área, prontos para discutir as mais recentes tendências e oportunidades da atividade turística mundial, o estado atual do turismo em Portugal e possíveis estratégias para o seu desenvolvimento na região norte do país. Para além das palestras e apresentações, o evento serviu também como marco para o lançamento do anuário “Turismo’17” e a apresentação dos recentes resultados da edição especial do Barómetro do Turismo.

Esta pesquisa teve por objetivo analisar as expectativas do viajante em relação ao turismo voluntário, buscando entender suas motivações, seu perfil e suas opiniões sobre a viagem. Para isso, utilizou-se a técnica da observação participante e da entrevista aberta com um grupo de pessoas que desenvolve esse tipo de turismo, com o objetivo de compreender o ponto de vista do viajante. A entidade escolhida para a pesquisa foi a organização não governamental Um Teto Para Meu País, presente em 19 países da América Latina, e o trabalho de campo foi realizado na Argentina em julho de 2011 durante os Trabajos de Invierno, que contaram com a presença de mais de 1200 voluntários. As entrevistas abertas foram realizadas com três voluntários de diferentes nacionalidades (França, Chile e Brasil). Os jovens entrevistados tinham entre 20 e 22 anos, frequentavam curso superior e realizaram a viagem de modo independente (sem intermediação de agências de viagens). Através das entrevistas e da observação participante, identificou-se que os turistas voluntários têm motivações pessoais distintas, sendo as mais citadas o sentimento de justiça, de igualdade e a reflexão gerada pela atividade. O contato com os moradores também é muito importante para a escolha por esse tipo de turismo, pois o turista tem a oportunidade de conhecer a região, os hábitos e costumes de seus habitantes de modo mais intenso.

ATCM XLV Decision 6 (2023) Dedicated process for the development of a comprehensive and consistent framework for Antarctic tourism and other non-governmental activities established a dedicated process for developing a comprehensive and consistent framework for Antarctic tourism and other non-governmental activities. The topic of fees was discussed during the Tourism Workshop held prior to ATCM 47 (2025) and was further examined in workstream 5 on “Institutional arrangements, including the role of the CEP as well as possible collection of fees and their use”. This IP contributes to this process by presenting relevant global examples on tourism fees, broadly defined, that are implemented in protected, conserved, or natural areas. Key lessons learned from the global experience are provided.

This paper summarizes the outcomes of an exploration of the framing, current state, and issues discussed by the ATCM related to Antarctic tourism diversification. Based on ATCM's final reports (1961-2022), seven dimensions contributing to tourism diversification were identified, together with over 75 discussed issues. Supplementary sources contributed to providing an overview of tourism diversification's current state.

This information is relevant to tourism discussions, especially in light of Decision 6 (2023) to initiate a dedicated process towards a comprehensive framework for tourism and other non-governmental activities. The work presented offers nuanced and up-to-date policy-relevant knowledge on tourism diversification with the overall objective of facilitating informed decision-making.

Guest Editor | Special Issue 

Rights of Nature and the Antarctic

The Polar Journal 14(2), December 2024

With Elena-Laura Álvarez Ortega and Kees Bastmeijer