Arctic Observation Network Social Indicators Project (OPP0638408): Tourism

The Arctic Observation Network Social Indicators Project (OPP0638408) is intended to contribute to the development of the Arctic Observation Network and to the science goals of SEARCH in two ways: (1) develop and make available to the science community relevant datasets; and (2) identify gaps in the existing observation system and recommend appropriate actions to fill those gaps.

The project's tourism database currently consists of visitation data from 1980–Present for a portion of the circumpolar north countries; not all have consistent data sets back to 1980. In addition to visitor counts of various types, tourism related employment and earning datasets have also been collected. Datasets were collected to date for Alaska, Canada, Norway, Greenland, and Iceland at the place and regional levels. Variables include: Total visitors by year, total visitors by month by year, visitors by mode (e.g. air, cruise ship) by year, visitors by origin by year: domestic and foreign, visitors by origin by year: Scandinavian (for Scandinavian countries), visitor related employment by month by year, visitor related peak July employment by year, visitor related peak season employment by year (if not July), visitor related average annual monthly earnings, cruise ship passenger numbers by port by year, total visitor expenditures by year, and accommodation nights per year. There is relatively standardization in tourism data definitions or data collection by national agencies within each arctic country and data are not available for all variables. Standardization and/or comparability of time series data sets will be important for the future monitoring and modeling of changes in the arctic environment and associated impacts of expanding tourism especially as diminishing sea ice cover increases accessibility.

A significant problem with arctic visitor estimates is that most jurisdictions use sampling and reporting protocols that result in insufficient information to make reliable estimates for remote rural areas. As a result, there is inconsistent baseline information from which to track changes over time. These same areas may also be most vulnerable to potential impacts and changes brought about by expanding tourism development. The Arctic Observation Network Social Indicators project takes the first step in examining what kind of arctic resource change and associated human dimension data are available and how best they can be organized.