Role Of Iacto In Antarctica

IAATO’s and ATCPs’ Antarctic tourism self-regulatory management, robust enough to continue in the future?

As one of the most remote environments on the earth with its untouched wilderness, impressive landscapes, unique and uninterrupted wildlife, Antarctica is an curious, although increasingly popular, tourism destination. Antarctica does not have a sovereign government, as a result, it has a lack of a “clear recipient state” and is considered an international commons (Vidas, 1996; Beck, 1998). The management of Antarctic tourism is influenced by stakeholder groups such as the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) and the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties (ATCPs). The IAATO is a self-regulatory tourism industry

This self-regulatory organisation IAATO has played a major role in achieving the tour operators’ relatively strong record in terms of safety and environmental sensitivities (Splettstoesser, 2000). However, faced with the increasing numbers of tourists and tour operators, as a result of the fast development of the Antarctic as a tourism destination, it is necessary to question whether IAATO will be able to keep its positive record in terms of self-regulating the use of the Antarctic tourism resource (Haase, D.; Lamers, M.; Amelung, B. 2009). Continued incentives for self-regulation are necessary but the changing circumstances lead that the effective management regime for tourism to the Antarctic by the IAATO and the ATCPs has had its days, the current system of regulating tourism to Antarctica by IAATO and the Antarctic Treaty System should not be continued in the

The problem of free-riders who use common resources and thereby benefit from the work of others who manage and maintain the resources, but do not abide by those regulations themselves, has created a problem. The companies organizing tourism in the Antarctic may not be registered in an Antarctic Treaty state, and the vessels that they use may belong to a non-signatory state since membership of IAATO is not mandatory, and so not all tour operators belong to IAATO. Those companies and vessels involved in Antarctic tourism fall outside the ATS policy framework. The self-regulation of the IAATO cannot close those gaps in the policy framework (Brady, A-M., 2013). Moreover, there is concern among IAATO members that free-riders may negatively impact their reputation and degrade the environment because whatever they do cannot be sufficiently controlled (Ostrom,