Navigating towards justice and sustainability? Syncretic encounters and stakeholder-sourced solutions in Arctic cruise tourism governance

Hansen-Magnusson, Hannes ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9169-3257 and Gehrke, Charlotte 2023. Navigating towards justice and sustainability? Syncretic encounters and stakeholder-sourced solutions in Arctic cruise tourism governance. Polar Journal 13 (2) , pp. 216-239. 10.1080/2154896X.2023.2251225

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Abstract

Cruise tourism has a dubious reputation for conspicuous consumption and associated environmental harm. Cruises to the Arctic promise passengers pristine landscapes and authentic and engaging experiences interacting with local and Indigenous communities. Yet, these very environments and communities are under existential threat amidst the climate crisis, provoking the question of how to reconcile the ever-expanding Arctic cruise industry’s conflict with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). To answer this question, the article proposes a novel approach that fuses concepts and methodologies from normative global governance research and critical tourism studies. Based on extensive empirical research in Norway, Canada and Iceland, the article presents stakeholder-sourced solutions that address a variety of justice conundrums associated with the expanding cruise tourism sector in the region. On the basis of the approach developed in the article, our research is able to inform public and policy discourse towards a just and sustainable transition of the polar cruise tourism industry in light of UN SDGs by highlighting the importance of creating ‘syncretic encounters’ based on four dimensions: authentic storytelling, decompressing spatial and temporal resources, just working conditions, and attention towards the built environment.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Department of Politics and International Relations (POLIR)
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis (Routledge): SSH Titles
ISSN:	2154-896X
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	15 August 2023
Date of Acceptance:	15 August 2023
Last Modified:	07 Dec 2023 11:29
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/161814

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