AECO produces animated guidelines for Arctic visitors

The nine-minute program was developed by the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators (AECO).

The video will be shown to visitors on board expedition cruise vessels operated by AECO members as a part of the general briefing at the beginning of an Arctic voyage. Vessels with video monitors installed in passenger accommodations may also feature the animation on one of the channels.

The video has an English voice-over with choice of subtitles in a number of other languages.

'AECO is very proud to present these new animated guidelines for visitors to the Arctic, and hopes they will be well received, as the animation is a step forward in regard to educating visitors about the Arctic and how to go about their visit,' said executive director Frigg Jørgensen.

Until now, AECO's visitor guidelines have been presented to passengers via PowerPoint presentations, postings on board the vessels and/or through a booklet. Since the guidelines were first published as a booklet in 2007, almost 70,000 copies have been distributed to Arctic expedition cruise passengers. The video will help reduce paper.

The animation was produced by Raindog Studios for $106,000 with a grant from the Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund.

AECO has more than 35 international members who operate approximately 25 vessels in Svalbard, Greenland, Canada and the Russian Arctic. They carry approximately 14,000 passengers to the Arctic annually.

The animated guidelines for visitors to the Arctic are at https://vimeo.com/97093751 and at www.aeco.no.