Communicating Risk in Glacier Tourism: A Case Study of the Svínafellsheiði Fracture in Iceland
Every day in early summer 2018, an estimated 1000 tourists went on guided tours of Svínafellsjökull, an outlet glacier in southeast Iceland. However, this changed on 22 June 2018, when a warning was issued against glacial travel due to the risk of a large landslide caused by a fracture in the surrou...
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International Mountain Society
2022
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-21-00051.1 |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:cbdf47eb2c0c4fe6ba2998a80b7ef396 2023-05-15T16:21:38+02:00 Communicating Risk in Glacier Tourism: A Case Study of the Svínafellsheiði Fracture in Iceland Stephanie Matti Helga Ögmundardóttir Guðfinna Aðalgeirsdóttir Uta Reichardt 2022-05-01 https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-21-00051.1 en eng International Mountain Society 0276-4741 1994-7151 https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-21-00051.1 undefined Mountain Research and Development, Vol 42, Iss 2, Pp D1-D12 (2022) climate change glacier iceland large landslide risk communication tourism geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2022 fttriple https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-21-00051.1 2023-01-22T17:49:34Z Every day in early summer 2018, an estimated 1000 tourists went on guided tours of Svínafellsjökull, an outlet glacier in southeast Iceland. However, this changed on 22 June 2018, when a warning was issued against glacial travel due to the risk of a large landslide caused by a fracture in the surrounding mountainside. Tourists often entrust tourism employees with responsibility for their safety; however, there is a dearth of research into the ways in which tourism employees receive and respond to risk communication. These dynamics were explored in this ethnographic study, which drew on 50 semistructured interviews and extensive participant observation. The results indicate that despite demographic shifts, Icelandic inhabitants remain the basic unit on which risk management processes are centered, with repercussions for the ways in which exposure is calculated and risk is communicated. Tourists and tourism employees have a limited understanding of the risk and emergency protocols compared with local inhabitants. We argue that, for their own safety and that of customers, risk communication needs to be tailored to the needs of tourism employees, including guides and hospitality workers. The recommendations that emerge from this research can guide risk communication strategies in other mountainous regions of the world where tourism is an important source of livelihoods. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Iceland Unknown Svínafellsheiði ENVELOPE(-16.831,-16.831,63.991,63.991) Svínafellsjökull ENVELOPE(-16.823,-16.823,64.021,64.021) Mountain Research and Development 42 2 |
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Open Polar |
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language |
English |
topic |
climate change glacier iceland large landslide risk communication tourism geo envir |
spellingShingle |
climate change glacier iceland large landslide risk communication tourism geo envir Stephanie Matti Helga Ögmundardóttir Guðfinna Aðalgeirsdóttir Uta Reichardt Communicating Risk in Glacier Tourism: A Case Study of the Svínafellsheiði Fracture in Iceland |
topic_facet |
climate change glacier iceland large landslide risk communication tourism geo envir |
description |
Every day in early summer 2018, an estimated 1000 tourists went on guided tours of Svínafellsjökull, an outlet glacier in southeast Iceland. However, this changed on 22 June 2018, when a warning was issued against glacial travel due to the risk of a large landslide caused by a fracture in the surrounding mountainside. Tourists often entrust tourism employees with responsibility for their safety; however, there is a dearth of research into the ways in which tourism employees receive and respond to risk communication. These dynamics were explored in this ethnographic study, which drew on 50 semistructured interviews and extensive participant observation. The results indicate that despite demographic shifts, Icelandic inhabitants remain the basic unit on which risk management processes are centered, with repercussions for the ways in which exposure is calculated and risk is communicated. Tourists and tourism employees have a limited understanding of the risk and emergency protocols compared with local inhabitants. We argue that, for their own safety and that of customers, risk communication needs to be tailored to the needs of tourism employees, including guides and hospitality workers. The recommendations that emerge from this research can guide risk communication strategies in other mountainous regions of the world where tourism is an important source of livelihoods. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stephanie Matti Helga Ögmundardóttir Guðfinna Aðalgeirsdóttir Uta Reichardt |
author_facet |
Stephanie Matti Helga Ögmundardóttir Guðfinna Aðalgeirsdóttir Uta Reichardt |
author_sort |
Stephanie Matti |
title |
Communicating Risk in Glacier Tourism: A Case Study of the Svínafellsheiði Fracture in Iceland |
title_short |
Communicating Risk in Glacier Tourism: A Case Study of the Svínafellsheiði Fracture in Iceland |
title_full |
Communicating Risk in Glacier Tourism: A Case Study of the Svínafellsheiði Fracture in Iceland |
title_fullStr |
Communicating Risk in Glacier Tourism: A Case Study of the Svínafellsheiði Fracture in Iceland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Communicating Risk in Glacier Tourism: A Case Study of the Svínafellsheiði Fracture in Iceland |
title_sort |
communicating risk in glacier tourism: a case study of the svínafellsheiði fracture in iceland |
publisher |
International Mountain Society |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-21-00051.1 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-16.831,-16.831,63.991,63.991) ENVELOPE(-16.823,-16.823,64.021,64.021) |
geographic |
Svínafellsheiði Svínafellsjökull |
geographic_facet |
Svínafellsheiði Svínafellsjökull |
genre |
glacier Iceland |
genre_facet |
glacier Iceland |
op_source |
Mountain Research and Development, Vol 42, Iss 2, Pp D1-D12 (2022) |
op_relation |
0276-4741 1994-7151 https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-21-00051.1 |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-21-00051.1 |
container_title |
Mountain Research and Development |
container_volume |
42 |
container_issue |
2 |
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1766009637179490304 |