Prospects for polar tourism

Tourism or travel for pleasure results from a spreading of prosperity that is relatively recent in the history of mankind. Early travellers crossed oceans and continents to seek wealth, to colonize new lands, to exploit human populations and resources, or to right real or imagined wrongs. Travel for its own sake, to satisfy curiosity or to learn, required surplus wealth, time and motivation, and was rare before the 18th century. Among the earliest tourists were the scions of wealthy families, a tiny minority of the population, seeking culture in the discomforts and dangers of the European Grand Tour. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, steamships and expanding railroad networks vigorously promoted commercial tourism. Entrepreneurs exploited these new transport modes, allowing a broader spectrum of people affordable access to a wide variety of attractions.

Từ khóa: Prospects for polar tourism, du lịch Bắc Cực, commercial tourism, tourist destinations, triển vọng du lịch, du lịch thương mại