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Presentation short abstract

Antarctic tourism markets itself as ‘responsible travel’ while reinforcing neo-colonial power structures, commodifying animals and dying ecosystems. This paper calls for degrowth in Antarctic tourism, moral encounters, and the recognition of ecological rights in relation to climate injustices.

Presentation long abstract

This article examines how the discourse on Antarctic tourism produces knowledge, authority, and legitimacy that shape the industry’s practices, representations, and hegemony. The concept of ‘responsible tourism’ promoted by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) poses a paradox: rather than protecting the environment, it perpetuates domination over nature and reproduces a colonial legacy on the planet’s most remote continent.

This study employs a decolonial and ecofeminist lens, to examine how domination over nature is manifested in the discourses shaping Antarctic tourism, and how this domination creates unequal power relations between those who visit and those affected, whilst deepening climate injustice to the entities in the ‘White Continents’, and extend further to the communities in the Global South. By applying Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to the websites of 24 IAATO member tour operators, this research challenges the reproduction of modern colonialism hidden behind the narrative of ‘responsible tourism,’ and questions the role of tourism in contributing to climate change and the wider ecological crisis, or polycrisis.