Tourism

Higher tourist traffic will be a two-edged sword for the Arctic regions. With the new money tourism brings into the region will come environmental hazards and other concerns. Tourist boats should be required to adhere to the same hull and ice regimes as all other vessels. In addition, tourist vessels should pay into a disaster relief fund annually to help offset the cost of any sort of search and rescue or environmental cleanup operation that might stem from their presence. Tourism should be strictly limited to a certain number of vessels or passengers per year, with the quota perhaps increasingly annually from a small base to an eventual cap in order to develop best practices through experience. This would help to ensure that the region is not overdeveloped and does not become overly dependent on tourism revenues.