Why Antarctic Tourism Is Getting Out Of Hand

Raging snow, ice, isolation, high winds and raging seas of Antarctica still lure in more and more travelers especially the hardy types which means that the White Continent will be able to welcome again around 11,200 people come tourists season, where all of them except for only about 130, will be venturing there riding a cruise liner. The difference of this total to last year may only be 400 travelers, nonetheless, this is a great jump of 70 percent compared to the past 6,585 tourist seasons which also ran from mid November and through the month of February. Most of those watching over Antarctica are growing concerned about the environment of the continent and they warn that a thousand more people can come to Antarctica each year.

A round trip ticket to where people mostly start their Antarctic trip, Tierra Del Fuego in Ushuaia Argentina, along with a twenty thousand dollar cruise plus a 14 day cruise that costs a hefty six to seven thousand dollars is the cost that any Antarctic traveler will have to be ready for. Underneath the invincible mask of Antarctica, it is not insulated from the growing number of travelers, despite the cost of going there as well as its merciless climate and geography, so nature experts today maintain that super saturation of tourists leads to formidable threats to their environment.

The distinguished director of the Antarctic Project said that while he is all for people seeing the great beauty of Antarctica, there must be a cap on the number of visitors per year and a strong limit on exploiting new sites. This Washington based project is secretariat for more than 200 conservation organizations in more than 40 countries. It’s true that once people visit Antarctica they come back committed to its conservation, but the downside is that there are so many visitors and Antarctica is so fragile, that there’s a danger they’re loving it to death.

A sensible and fair limit of only 6,000 guests every year is pushed by this director, due to the damage caused by the many voyagers frequenting the same few places on the 800 mile long Antarctic Peninsula, the home of the most penguins, seals and birds in this region. But it is extremely rare that tourists groups setting foot on land exceed a hundred members. Between visits, animals do not get to rest and neither do they have the chance to gather food for their babies.

She notes further that Science cannot say yet if a long term impact will arise from this. Tourists tinkering with the plants and not disposing garbage properly is two of Antarctica’s growing woes. By reinforcing the Antarctic Treaty, we understand why when travelers go ashore, large and experienced staffs make sure they have very little impact if none at all, and this also sheds light as to why most tour operators abide by such environmental guidelines. Ratified efforts that starts with the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, since signed by 43 various countries on top of an environmental protocol signed last January 14, 1998, put an end to mining and oil explorations as well as put environmental safety measures like limiting Antarctic cruises and fishing sprees.

The tour association, based in New York City saw that their members adhered to the 100 person limit for shore tours and this also called for the use of zodiacs, motorized rubber vessels. Air craft with the flag of Russia would be flying, 9 out of the 15 this season. With the Soviet Union’s break up, an opportunity for tour operators came as several small ships have been made available. An average of 40 to 80 people are welcome aboard these ships, several vessels along one that is know to be an ice breaker, all of them being able to plow through ice with hardened hulls. But as for now, environmental concerns keep plaguing the Earth’s final frontier. We can wish that as we look back in the future, we heave a sigh of relief, as all those worries did not really come to something. For us who are waiting for science to come up with answers, let us answer the call of limiting our own travels to this alluring continent.

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