Lars-Eric Lindblad

Lars-Eric Lindblad (January 23, 1927 – July 8, 1994) was a Swedish-American entrepreneur and explorer, who pioneered tourism to many remote and exotic parts of the world. He led the first tourist expedition to Antarctica in 1966 in a chartered Argentine navy ship, and for many years operated his own vessel, the MS Lindblad Explorer, in the region. Observers point to the Lindblad Explorer’s 1969 expeditionary cruise to Antarctica as the forerunner to today's sea-based tourism there.

Biography

Lars-Eric Lindblad was born in 1927 in Solna north of Stockholm, Sweden. He immigrated to the United States in 1951 and later became an American citizen. Lindblad pioneered cruising to the Arctic, Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, but also to places such as the Seychelles and the islands east of Bali. In 1984, he led the first voyage by a tourist ship through the Northwest Passage from Newfoundland over the American continent and via Bering Strait to Yokohama, Japan. The voyage took 40 days and a distance of and the adventure was covered by most news media in North America and Europe.

Lindblad was president and chief executive officer of Lindblad Travel in Westport, Connecticut, for more than 30 years. The company introduced tourism in some of the most exotic parts of the globe including cruises to Antarctica, in 1966; to Easter Island and the Galápagos Islands, in 1967, and along the coast of China and Bhutan in 1978. Many of these places had no facilities for visitors in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when Lindblad Travel was in its infancy. In 1972, one of his company's ships, the MV Explorer, ran aground in Antarctica – its passengers, including Lars-Eric Lindblad, were rescued by the Chilean Navy.

Lindblad Travel ceased operations in 1989. In that year, the company was penalized more than $75,000 for violating United States trade embargoes against Vietnam and Cambodia by offering tours there. Lars-Eric Lindblad later said the penalties and legal fees incurred in his dispute with the U.S. Government contributed to the company's going out of business. In an interview in the New York Times when the penalties were levied, Lindblad said he had intentionally violated the sanctions. "I would do it again," he said. "Travel in my opinion is not ordinary trade. Travel is a way of communication. To embargo travel is like burning books or imprisoning journalists." His autobiography, Passport to Anywhere with an introduction by the ornithologist Roger Tory Peterson, describes his many adventurous travel experiences.

Lars-Eric Lindblad lived for many years in Wilton, Connecticut. He died of a sudden heart attack in 1994, while on vacation in Stockholm.