This tourist season in Antarctica, hardy types will still venture to this frozen land even with its unfriendly snow, ice, isolation, high winds and raging seas, and about the 11,200 tourists gearing for the trip shall arrive from cruise ship travel while only 130 of them will come from other transportation. Even with this year’s visitors only more by 400 compared to last year, tourist season, which runs from the middle of November and through February still has never experienced a 70 percent growth during the 6,585 seasons prior to this year’s season. The same sentiments of those watching over Antarctica go to its environmental state, and they all see a steady stream of tourists, specifically by the thousands in the years to come.
Twenty thousand dollars gets one person a cruise to Antarctica, but he will have to also shoulder his 14 day cruise that costs a hefty six to seven thousand dollars and of course, a round trip ticket as he will have to depart from Ushuaia Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego, where 90 percent of voyagers originate. Many environmental experts state that Antarctica is not invincible even with its tough climate and geography as well as the price of getting there as the tourists keep growing each year and this truly affects the land’s ecosystem.
The Antarctic Project’s director states that visitors should have the chance to behold the wonders of the white continent but there should be restrictions on the annual number of visitors along with banning new site explorations. This Washington based project is secretariat for more than 200 conservation organizations in more than 40 countries. There is truth to the fact that most who come to Antarctica come back committed to this continent’s conservation, but then the down part is that this is a fragile land and there are too many people simply loving it exceedingly.
A major concern of this director, who favors a limit of 6,000 visitors a year, is that most tourists visit the same few places on the 800 mile long Antarctic Peninsula, which has the continent’s biggest concentration of penguins, seals and birds. However, tourists groups setting foot on the ground does not often exceed 100 visitors at a certain occasion. It is sad that animals are bothered as they rest, and neither can they get some food for their babies or for their own selves so this is very harmful.
Science is unable to see yet if this will have a long term impact, she further reveals. Some of the fears include tourists touching flora and throwing garbage recklessly. That’s why when visitors go ashore, there are large and experienced staffs to insure they have minimal impact and why the tour operators adhere to the guidelines, for visitors adopted by the Antarctic Treaty System. Such series of agreements including the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, since agreed on by 43 countries along with an environmental protocol signed last January 14, 1998, put a restriction on mining and oil drilling, on top of providing other environmental safety measures along with limiting fishing trips and seasonal cruises around the White Continent.
The tour association members based in New York voluntarily took the 100 person limit for shore tours where they employ zodiacs which are motorized boats made of rubber. This season saw 9 out of the 15 vessels flying Russian flags around the White Continent. The breakup of the Soviet Union made a number of small ships available, to tour operators. As for the passengers, about 40 to 80 are welcome in these vessels, including an icebreaker and several others with hardened hulls that can resist strong ice. But then there is persisting concern toward the environment of Antarctica. It would be possible that in the future, we all would look back and with relief say, no problem, we just grew concerned about it when there was no need to. Until the day science sheds light on these questions, we will have to limit our travels to Antarctica for this continent’s sake.
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