Melting glaciers create new market for Alaska tour operators

This April 19, 2013, file photo shows the Mendenhall Glaicer where it spills over the mountains above Mendenhall Lake in Juneau, Alaska. More than two-thirds of the recent rapid melting of the world’s glaciers can be blamed on humans, a new study finds. AP

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The rapid melting of glaciers due to climate change has created a new market for Alaska’s tour operators.

The Anchorage Daily News reported Sunday that operators of several tour companies are experiencing an increase in customers booking trips to see the receding glaciers of the nation’s only Arctic state before they lose access to them.

A new review of glacier research data published in the Journal of Glaciology predicts Alaska’s 25,000 glaciers will lose between 30% and 50% of their mass by the end of this century.

One tour operator says there is “more awareness” of the receding glaciers among tourists.

Operators say they have seen interest from places like Australia where glaciers do not exist, as well as visitors from emerging tourism markets like China and India. /gg