MITTIMATALIK/POND INLET
Baffin region outfitters have only reached the tip of the iceberg when it comes to floe edge tourism, as tourists around the world are becoming increasingly aware of the natural springtime wonder.
Polar Sea Adventures takes visitors to the floe edge near Pond Inlet in June 2011. - photo courtesy of Polar Sea/Black Feather
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Known as Sinaaq in Inuktitut, where the sea ice meets the open sea, the floe edge -- which will begin to emerge at the end of next month in Pond Inlet, and typically in mid-June in Arctic Bay -- poses a prime opportunity for visitors to the territory to see the narwhal and other rare wildlife, go hiking, snowmobiling, and camping under the midnight sun of the Arctic.
"It's the hot number for the Arctic," said Thomas Lennartz, director of expeditions and sales for Arctic Kingdom Polar Expeditions Inc. "June is really sexy because you get a camp on ice which is what people want, they get to see the narwhal which is pretty special, and you get to see possibly polar bears and seals, and the Inuit culture. All of our guides are Inuit elders so the whole trip itself you're weaving many components: beautiful landscapes, the wildlife, and Inuit culture. You get this sort of trifecta of ingredients that make for a really special trip."
In addition to narwhal, Arctic wildlife that is known to gather in abundance along the floe edge includes walruses, seals, polar bears, bowhead and beluga whales, according to Nunavut Tourism.
"The wildlife viewing is absolutely extraordinary," said Colleen Dupuis, CEO of Nunavut Tourism, who said the floe edge is a very established product in the territory, where there have been floe edge tours for the past 25 years.
"It's probably one of the more popular products and this year, a lot of the operators are fully booked."
David Reid, the owner/operator of Polar Sea, said the Arctic adventure company and its sister company Black Feather have more than 50 years of combined Arctic expedition experience.
This spring, Polar Sea has scheduled floe edge skiing expeditions, exploring the land and sea ice to the east of Pond Inlet.
While the majority of licenced floe edge outfitters operate out of the Qikiqtaaluk Region, there is room for the market to grow in other communities as well, Dupuis said.
"Just about most of the communities in Nunavut will have some sort of floe edge and there is always good wildlife viewing at any of the floe edges," she said.
The ability for outfitters to tailor their tours to a broad range of clients is one of the factors in the season's growing popularity, Dupuis added.
"It's not the same as a five-day rafting trip. You don't have to be in amazing shape to do the floe edge," she said. "We have grandmothers go to the floe edge. It's an activity that can appeal to a broad range of clients and most of the outfitters will tailor the trip to the clients that are on it so it can be a very soft adventure-type product."
The tourism market in Nunavut has been growing, with the latest exit survey figures showing about 30,525 visitors to the territory in 2011, an increase from just less than 30,000 in 2008. Statistics are not collected for the breakdown of visitor activity. Exit surveys are conducted every three to five years, but based on tourism surveys kept at visitor centres, a roughly three-per-cent increase in tourism was seen last summer, Dupuis said.
While Nunavut is increasing in popularity, the Arctic is still not top of mind as a travel destination, Lennartz said. Arctic Kingdom has been expanding the awareness of the floe edge by targeting clients interested in wilderness through travel channels and trade shows around the world, he said.
"The Arctic is not a top of mind location. For most people, they never really thought of going to the Arctic before," he said. "A lot of people assume the stereotypical you know, explorer with an ice-encrusted moustache, you know with wind-blown parka pulling a dog sled. That's the image of the Aarctic and we're really teaching them the Arctic is actually a very pleasant place to go at certain times of the year.
"So June, we say the Arctic kind of wakes up. Temperatures go above the freezing mark, the waterfalls start to flow, the flowers start to bloom and the whales are migrating back. So we've just been educating over the last three years."
Operators are drawing floe edge tourists from a number of countries, including other parts of Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and Brazil.
"There is definitely a target market in the world that are very well travelled. They've been to African safari, they've been to Machu Picchu, they've been to Galapagos, and they're looking for something new and something different and this is what we're offering," Lennartz said. "What we're saying is we're taking the African safari but we're bringing it up to the Arctic."
Due to the high cost of floe edge trips, which can run up to $10,000 per person including airfare, Arctic Kingdom targets the clientele that can afford the trip by foregoing the ice tents for more comfortable yurt-style camps.
"There's a certain clientele that can afford that trip. Hopefully, in the future as flight prices come down, the floe edge will become more accessible," Lennartz said.
"It's been a slow buildup and I think we're starting to get to the point where the floe edge is starting to become a destination people are now looking to."
