Dissertation

Antarctic tourism diversification: Governance, place-making, and values in the Antarctic Treaty System

Yousra Makanse, 2026

Access to the document: 10.18174/681561

Abstract

This dissertation examines the diversification of Antarctic tourism and its implications for tourism practices, Antarctic places, governance, and the values and principles of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS). While Antarctic tourism has expanded significantly in recent decades, diversification has often been discussed primarily in relation to individual activities or emerging risks rather than as an ongoing process shaping how tourism develops and is governed over time. Drawing on interdisciplinary insights from tourism studies, cultural geography, policy, and legal scholarship, this dissertation investigates how diversification unfolds in practice, how it is framed and addressed within ATS policy debates, how it contributes to Antarctic place-making, and how ATS values and principles are interpreted and enacted in tourism governance. The overarching research question guiding this dissertation is: How does Antarctic tourism diversification shape tourism practices, Antarctic places, and governance, and how are Antarctic Treaty System values and principles reflected in this? This dissertation shows that Antarctic tourism diversification involves the gradual normalization of new forms of access, presence, and engagement with Antarctica, reshaping how tourism is practiced and how the continent is experienced. These changes also contribute to Antarctic place-making by reinforcing imaginaries of Antarctica as exploratory, exceptional, consumable, or spectacular, thereby shaping expectations about appropriate forms of human presence on the continent. At the governance level, responses have often been reactive and fragmented, allowing tourism developments to become established through continued practice rather than explicit collective decisions. In this sense, governance inaction functions as an enabling condition for diversification. Finally, while ATS values and principles remain central to Antarctic governance, their influence depends on how consistently they are translated into concrete governance arrangements and decision-making practices. In light of these dynamics, Antarctic tourism governance requires a shift away from reactive responses toward more comprehensive and anticipatory approaches that strengthen collective capacity to guide tourism development in advance and align it more closely with ATS values and principles. By conceptualizing Antarctic tourism diversification as a process with material, spatial, institutional, and normative implications, this dissertation contributes empirically and conceptually to Antarctic tourism scholarship and offers policy-relevant insights to support more proactive, coordinated, and value-informed approaches to Antarctic tourism governance.