High-arctic cultural heritage environments are deteriorated by cruise tourism: a case study from Svalbard

Abstract

The Arctic’s environmental and heritage management authorities face increasing challenges regarding degradation and destruction of natural and cultural heritage, especially due to increasing impacts from tourism and climate change. Tourism is now an important industry in the Arctic, and a major cause of negative impacts on the environment and biodiversity. We assess the different impacts and stressors created by tourism on these areas on the archipelago of Svalbard using field studies and remote sensing. We found that increased tourism during the last three decades (1990–2020) was the most important stressor expressed as impairment of vegetation from 4% to 55% at and around eight major cultural heritage environments on Svalbard. Finally, we outline some future suggestions concerning management and adaption for improvement of sustainable tourism in the High Arctic.