Almost all glaciers around the world are shrinking or retreating and many are disappearing entirely. As this goes on, glaciers are drawing more visitors than ever. The ten most visited glaciers now attract more than 14 million tourists each year. Glaciers have long been tourist attractions, but the impact of climate change has led to the growth of “last-chance tourism” where visitors are rushing to see glaciers before they vanish.
A recent study published in Nature Climate Change looks at the causes and impacts of this tourism. Some visitors come to celebrate glaciers, others to mourn them. The increased tourism does focus more attention on the environmental crisis. On the other hand, increasing visitation adds to carbon emissions and environmental degradation, only making things worse.
But glaciers are far more than scenic wonders. Nearly two billion people depend on seasonal glacier melt that supplies rivers and aquifers, especially in Asia and in South America. The year 2025 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Glaciers Preservation.
Visiting glaciers has always been a powerful experience. As glaciers continue to retreat, it becomes more evident that most people on Earth will never be able to visit a glacier. Those who do visit often experience a sense of ecological grief. Glaciers have become rallying points for climate activism and policy change. Whether the large, infrastructural, systemic changes that could really make a difference will ever happen is an open question. Meanwhile, the challenge is to ensure that witnessing the loss of glaciers does not accelerate the very forces driving their disappearance.
