Volcanoes and tourism: a reflection from an IAVCEI working group

In recent decades, tourism on active volcanoes has become very popular, raising the risk exposure of more and more visitors to potential volcanic hazards. Tragic illustrations were recorded at Ontake (2014), Whakaari (2019) and Marapi (2023).

Tourist operators promoting tourism on volcanoes offer a wide diversity of tours with varying degrees of difficulty and risk. The most popular attractions include visits to glowing lava flows and fumarolic areas, as well as observing mildly explosive eruptions. The commonality between all visiting options is that many people are often involved in multiple and diverse groups, which raises a different risk level compared to individual visits in front of any same hazard. While individual risk is related to the exposure time of an individual, the collective risk for visiting groups depend on the total numbers of visitors, the number of groups and the summations of exposure times. This risk difference between individuals and groups has important implications in terms of risk mitigation and potential decisions.

In order to improve communication on volcanic hazards and awareness of potential risks to the tourist public, the IAVCEI can provide professional recommendations on the best practices and protocols to be checked before planning and embarking on a tour. This is envisioned as a positive complement to existing communication protocols established in each country. In addition, IAVCEI may foster interactions with tourism agencies to support effective risk management and improve information dissemination, starting from the role of the volcanologists and volcano observatories.