Cruise ship passenger experiences of shore visits along the Northwest Passage, Arctic Canada

Abstract

The paper reports on the preliminary findings of a visitor survey with cruise ship passengers (n=119) on board a Northwest Passage tour of the Canadian Arctic in September 2017. The survey was part of a larger project, “Climate Change Adaptation Assessment for Transportation in Arctic Waters (CATAW)” which examined the risks and opportunities associated with climate change induced increases in shipping throughout Arctic Canada and developed adaptation strategies that mitigate risks and enhance opportunities. A key finding of the CATAW project was that cruise ships are a vector for some of the highest impacts arising from marine transportation in the region. This is because tourism vessels travel off the main transportation corridors and disembark passengers at sensitive and remote shore locations.