In summer 2023, our partner and founding member, Oceanwide Expeditions, offers a special tour to experience the highest midnight sun at solstice and watch birds at the peak of the breeding season as well as polar bears in the area of the “Thousand Islands” on the Eastside of Spitsbergen/Svalbard. Have a look at voyage HDS05.  LT&C members get an additional discount of 20% on an already reduced price others have to pay.

Experience the high Arctic summer solstice with an expedition that visits some of the top sites of eastern Spitsbergen. If you are interested in high Arctic birds, this tour will be the right one for you. Besides, bountiful seabird colonies, the typical waders and geese, Ivory Gulls are on the agenda. In the sprawling fjord systems, there is a good chance of spotting whales, seals, and possibly even polar bears. And you will learn why Svalbard ranks as an LT&C-Example. If you join this tour, we expect that this will not only be your once-in-a-lifetime wildlife- and wilderness experience but that you will return as an ambassador for protecting the wild nature of the Arctic and engage in nature protection where you live or travel to.

The study tour will be performed by emperor penguin member and co-founder of LT&C, Oceanwide Expeditions (OE), with their expedition vessel M/V Hondius. You will find the detailed itinerary for this voyage on their website.

It is the core of LT&C’s mission to describe, profile and promote so-called LT&C Examples, where the cooperation between conservation and tourism has led to the establishment of protected areas or the support and improvement of their management. In this context, visits to these unique areas can make those examples better known, learn from them and create incentives and tools to replicate or boost them. To safeguard our earth’s biodiversity, protecting 2030 at least 30% of the global land and sea area with their different ecosystems and habitats is crucial. Tourism must be essential in reaching this so-called “30×30 Goal“. Increasing those cases where tourism supports establishing or further developing protected nature areas is critical to achieving this global goal. You can involve yourself by combining your wish to explore exciting nature areas with the visit, support and promotion of such LT&C Examples.

Several study tours to the Arctic and Antarctica have been conducted in recent years, where the LT&C concept was presented on-site. Our Dutch tour-operating partner and LT&C member, OE, has a long history of cooperating with various conservation organisations and supporting protected area projects. 

Suppose you are interested in this specific Arctic study tour or any other Arctic or Antarctic tour of OE. In that case, you only need to express your interest to us and let us forward your name and contact to the tour operator. You will then be contacted by OE, who will make the booking with you. The official prices of Oceanwide Expeditions you find on their website.  LT&C members get a discount of 20% on the prices you see there announced for other passengers. 

Should the date not fit you, contact us, and we will find another tour meeting your interests. As an LT&C member, you can also benefit from Oceanwide’s general offer to get a 10% discount on booking any other tour to the Arctic or Antarctic LT&C-Examples described on their website.

We, in any case, recommend compensating for your climate footprint by supporting concrete and certified projects with benefits for both climate and biodiversity. You can also offset your entire personal climate gas emissions of the year by using the calculator of our member Southpole.

You just need to let us know your interest. You are welcome to spread the information to others you know who may be interested in experiencing pristine high Arctic nature and learning how tourism can support nature conservation.

If you are interested…