“The End of the Ice Age?”: Disappearing World Heritage and the Climate Change Communication Imperative

ABSTRACT

Rapid environmental change in vulnerable destinations has stimulated a new form of travel termed “last chance tourism” (LCT). Studies have examined the risks of LCT, while leaving potential opportunities within this new tourism market largely underexplored. Results of survey (n = 399) research in Jasper National Park, Canada reveal that a LCT motivation influences decisions to visit this iconic Canadian destination, and suggest that this motivation is linked to a desire to learn about the impacts of climate change on the Athabasca Glacier. Findings suggest there may be short to medium term opportunities associated with LCT, including promoting climate change ambassadorship through management interventions. This paper discusses a range of possible education, interpretive, and outreach activities that might be employed at LCT destinations. It outlines the relative merits (or what we refer to as “uneasy benefits”) of promoting the glacier and other LCT destinations within a protected areas management and climate change adaptation context.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change
• parks and protected areas
• last chance tourism
• destination marketing
• interpretation

Acknowledgements

We thank Bobbie Swartman (University of Waterloo), Lindsay Woodside (Wilfrid Laurier University) and Culum Canally (Wilfrid Laurier University) for assisting with data collection. Thanks are also extended to Pam Schaus (Wilfrid Laurier University) for cartographic assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Brewster Travel’s Columbia Icefield Glacier Adventure tours: http://www.brewster.ca/activities-in-the-rockies/brewster-attractions/columbia-icefield-glacier-adventure/

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [grant number 430-2012-0441].