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Master‘s thesis Interactions and Management of the Stakeholders-Tourists-Trails-Environment system at Látrabjarg Cliffs (Iceland): A comparative study with Moher Cliffs (Ireland) Marie Jannie Madeleine Legatelois Advisor: Dr. Georgette Leah Burns University of Akureyri Faculty of Business and Science University Centre of the Westfjords Master of Resource Management: Coastal and Marine Management Ísafjörður, Mai 2014 Supervisory Committee Advisor: Dr. Georgette Leah Burns, PhD. (MU) Reader: Sigríður Kristjánsdóttir, PhD. Program Director: Dagný Arnarsdóttir, MSc. Marie Jannie Madeleine Legatelois Interactions and Management of the Stakeholders-Tourists-Trails-Environment system at Látrabjarg Cliffs (Iceland): A comparative study with Moher Cliffs (Ireland) 45 ECTS thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of a Master of Resource Management degree in Coastal and Marine Management at the University Centre of the Westfjords, Suðurgata 12, 400 Ísafjörður, Iceland Degree accredited by the University of Akureyri, Faculty of Business and Science, Borgir, 600 Akureyri, Iceland Copyright © 2014 Marie Jannie Madeleine Legatelois All rights reserved Printing: Háskólaprent, Reykjavík, Mai 2014 Declaration I hereby confirm that I am the sole author of this thesis and it is a product of my own academic research. Marie Jannie Madeleine Legatelois __________________________________________ Student„s name Abstract Látrabjarg Cliffs (Iceland) are the biggest cliffs and sea bird colony of Europe. This site attracts an increasing number of international tourists. However, the current infrastructure presents on the site is not adapted for this tourism and the resulting pressure on the environment raises issues for the sustainability of this important site. Stakeholders are currently transforming Látrabjarg into a National Park and developing conservation and land-use plans to address these issues. The research objective is to help this development process by gathering information on how tourism should be managed at Látrabjarg in order to ensure sustainability of this tourist destination. In order to meet this objective, a mixed method approach was chosen. Information was collected through a qualitative comparison with the planning and management process of Moher Cliffs (Ireland) case study. This tourist destination was chosen because of its many environmental and management similarities with Látrabjarg Cliffs. Information was also collected through on-site direct and indirect observations, key stakeholder‟s meeting. Literature and information analysis was done to answer research questions. The research has proposed a new approach for tourist destinations study through the Stakeholders-tourists-trails-environment systems (STTES) framework. The research found that the current path of Látrabjarg planning process presents numerous issues and concerns. These included stakeholder‟s conflicts and improper involvement, a profound lack of base data and analyses about tourists, society, economy, environment and tourist impacts, general lack of environmental and sustainability considerations and poor planning timeline. Considering these findings, failure in tourism management, the sustainability of the STTES, nature conservation, and sustainability of Látrabjarg National Park is likely. The main recommendations of this research are to conduct more research before going forward in the planning process, to ensure proper and ethical stakeholder‟s involvement and empowerment, to finalize the land-use plan after the conservation plan and to better consider and apply sustainable and precautionary principles. I want to dedicate the following work to the country of Iceland, its culture and its people. Foreword I came first in Iceland as a tourist and was struck by the magnificence, strangeness and contrast of the landscapes. I decided to come back in this beautiful country by the means of my master studies. Arriving in the small town of Ísafjörður in the Westfjords (around 2500 inhabitants), I didn‟t expect to meet such nice people and so rich a culture. It was a thriving environment for studying and for personal enrichment. The internationality of the students and professors has created interesting debates, knowledge and ideas sharing that have naturally led me to my research subject. I didn‟t know at this moment that a master thesis could literally change a life but it did it for me, in an unimaginably positive way. There have been of course a lot of difficulties and uncertainties but as everything else in life. Table of Contents Foreword ............................................................................................................................. ix List of Figures ................................................................................................................... xiv List of Tables ................................................................................................................... xviii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... xix 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 21 1.1 Background ........................................................................................................... 21 1.1.1 Látrabjarg Cliffs ........................................................................................... 21 1.1.2 Tourism and other interests in Látrabjarg Cliffs .......................................... 22 1.1.3 Concerns at Látrabjarg Cliffs ....................................................................... 24 1.1.4 History of the planning process ................................................................... 24 1.2 Research objectives and questions ........................................................................ 26 1.3 Scope of the thesis ................................................................................................. 27 1.3.1 Geographical limits ...................................................................................... 27 1.3.2 Topic boundaries .......................................................................................... 29 1.4 Structure of the thesis ............................................................................................ 29 2 Definitions and concepts ............................................................................................... 31 2.1 Definition of cliff................................................................................................... 31 2.2 Sustainability concepts .......................................................................................... 33 2.3 Tourism ................................................................................................................. 35 2.3.1 Tourism, tourists and visitors ....................................................................... 35 2.3.2 Sustainable tourism, mass tourism and ecotourism ..................................... 36 2.4 Wilderness ............................................................................................................. 38 2.5 Stakeholders-tourists-trails-environment systems (STTES) ................................. 39 2.6 Precautionary principles ........................................................................................ 41 2.7 Concepts rejected .................................................................................................. 42 3 State of knowledge ........................................................................................................ 43 3.1 Cliffs environment ................................................................................................. 43 3.2 Sustainability ......................................................................................................... 44 3.2.1 Látrabjarg and sustainability ........................................................................ 45 3.2.2 Tourism and sustainability ........................................................................... 45 3.3 Iceland and Látrabjarg tourism.............................................................................. 47 3.3.1 Tourism ........................................................................................................ 47 3.3.2 Tourists to Iceland........................................................................................ 48 3.3.3 Quality certification in the Icelandic tourism industry ................................ 51 3.3.4 Tourists to the Westfjords and Látrabjarg ................................................... 53 3.4 Wilderness and tourism ......................................................................................... 54 3.5 Trails and tourism impacts .................................................................................... 56 3.5.1 Trampling impacts ....................................................................................... 56 xi 3.5.2 Trampling effects influencing variables ...................................................... 58 3.5.3 Trampling impacts on trails ......................................................................... 59 3.5.4 Other tourism impacts and trails location .................................................... 60 3.5.5 Tourist behaviour and trails ......................................................................... 61 3.5.6 Assessment of tourist‟s impacts and ecological sensitivity

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