Successful Panel at the Arctic Circle Assembly

Photo: Rebecca Pincus

The importance of increased communication and coordination between the various actors engaged in marine and coastal Arctic tourism management was one of the themes that was highlighted by panel participants in a break-out session organized by the ICTR on Friday, October 13^th, as part of the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavík, Harpa.

The aim of the panel was to bring together representatives from industry, government and the research community to discuss the various issues linked to marine and coastal tourism management and to draw out the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats the tourism sector in the Arctic is facing.

Guðrún Þóra Gunnarsdóttir, director of the ITRC, and Nathan Reigner, consultant at Recreation and Tourism Science, moderated the panel. Participants were Auður H Ingólfsdóttir, researcher at the ITRC, Frigg Jørgensen, Executive Director of the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO), Jessica Shadian, Director of Arctic 360, Shannon Jenkins, US Coast Guard Senior Arctic Policy Advisor, Sergey Shirokiy, Vice Chair for Northern Eurasia of IUCN´s World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and Wilfred Richard, research fellow of the Uummannaq Polar Institute and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History´s Arctic Studies Center.

The photo to the right shows the panel participants (from left to right): Guðrún Þóra Gunnarsdóttir, Jessica Shadian, Auður H Ingólfsdóttir, Frigg Jørgensen, Shannon Jenkins, Sergey Shirokiy, Wilfred Richard and Nathan Reigner