Antarctica is the coldest, most remote continent. It’s also one of the fastest-growing tourist destinations on the planet. But as temperatures rise in this pristine ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ destination, some tourism luminaries are asking if we should be visiting at all. Thomas Bywater reports from the shore of ‘Continent Number 7′, wondering if he should have stayed at home.
Last year, the body governing for tourism in Antarctica, IAATO, projected annual visitors to the frozen continent would exceed 100,000 for the first time. Considering tourists numbered just a few hundred three decades ago, it’s an increase in visitation more befitting a theme park, not a science reserve.
As issues of climate impact and over-tourism loom large, this milestone has sparked alarm.
Some say Antarctica is the last place on Earth that tourists should be visiting.
It’s a destination I’ve been fascinated with too, ever since being trapped on the edge of the sub-Antarctic during the the Covid 19 shutdown. But, after a brief pandemic pause, annual visitor numbers have continued to climb unaffected.
Tourism has long since eclipsed science as the number one reason people visit the southern continent. Though this distinction has been blurred in places. Many research stations are now inviting visitors and some tourist ships are being used as platforms for science.
This new emphasis on embedded research programmes has raised the issue of “science washing”.
With each data-collection mission, university researcher or guest lecturer taken on Antarctic cruise ships, it’s getting harder to tell the difference between token science and genuine research.
Read the full article on nzherald.co.nz/travel
