Fiery eruptions: travel health risks of volcano tourism
Zhong You Lim, Gerard Flaherty
Abstract
To the Editor-in-Chief: The hazards of geo-tourism in wilderness environments have been previously discussed in this journal in relation to tourist fatalities at the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland.1 There is a growing trend towards extreme adventure tourism involving geo-sites of significant natural beauty, such as volcanoes. The recent tragic deaths of 21 cruise-ship passengers and crew members2 from seven countries on a shore excursion to Whakaari volcano 48 km off the coast of New Zealand raise questions about the safety of volcano tourism activities. Ongoing seismic and volcanic activity, coupled with poor visibility and the release of toxic gases, impeded efforts at rescuing survivors and retrieving bodies from the disaster area. Prior to its most recent phreatic eruption in December 2019, a Volcanic Alert Level 2 (on a scale from 0 to 5) had been in effect for the volcano, indicating a moderate to heightened degree of volcanic unrest. This had been appropriately communicated to the volcano tourists on the website of the tour company which also had a comprehensive safety plan in place. Travellers must accept that natural disasters in remote wilderness environments will challenge the best laid safety protocols and that absolute personal safety cannot be guaranteed in such settings.