As part of Hurtiguten Foundation, chief executive Daniel Skjeldam told TTG monies would be raised for “grassroots” organisations and charities, while the line will also be introducing voulunteering excursions for its passengers on every voyage.
“We want to offer travel with meaning,” he said. “By having guests, staff, partners and Hurtigruten friends from around the world joining forces, we aim to ensure that future guests can have the same unique experiences in these areas as guests of today.”
The line will focus on the Arctic, Antartica and along the Norwegian coast. “We’ve been sailing in some of the most pristine waters in the world for almost 175 years, and we’ve seen the effects of climate change in these areas,” he said.
Skjeldam cited the example of Svalbard, where he said the line had noticed the amount of ice covering the land “decreasing dramatically”.
“There has been a huge change there in just a few years – we’ve seen polar bears struggling, because they can’t find seals as there’s no ice for the seals to live on. Our guests have noticed it too. We take our responsibility as an operator very seriously,” he added.
Voluntary excursions on offer for passengers will include beach cleans along the coast, which the line has already introduced on its Svalbard sailings, which Skjeldam said had received a positive response from passengers.
“We have an initiative called ‘Clean up Svalbard’, where we tell guests that they can take part in the clean-up, and we bring back all the items on the beach and ship them out. There is so much litter that washes up – it’s heartbreaking to watch polar bears having to pick their way through plastic bags and bottles. We’ve seen that guests like to help out in changing this.”
He said Hurtigruten was still developing further volunteering excursion opportunities for passengers, which would be based on the regions that the ships sail to.
The line is also working closely with the foundation’s first ambassador, environmental campaigner Lewis Pugh, on other ways to develop the initiative.
“I want to educate the guests,” Pugh told TTG. “I want to get the big leading scientists onboard to offer lectures, so that we can take guests understanding of climate change and pollution to another level.”
Pugh said he was also hoping to invite “business leaders and policy makers from around the world on some voyages”.
“I want them to see what is happening – it can have a huge impact if you show people what’s happening in these areas,” he added.
As part of his ambassador role, Pugh will also join selected Hurtigruten voyages in the Arctic and Antarctic, giving lectures and taking part in excursions, with his first sailing on Midnatsol to Antarctica, which departs in winter 2016.
