Fewer tourists, less environmental concerns

This coming tourists season, Antarctica will be welcoming about 11

,200 tourists and all of them except for 130 travelers, coming in via cruise liners, proof enough that this continent's harsh conditions such as isolation, snow, ice, high winds and raging seas are not enough to ward off the tourists. This total is still seventy percent higher than the 6,585 seasons before it even as this is only 400 times more visitors than last year's tourist season, slated from mid November up until February. The environment of Antarctica is a cause of concern for many watchers who predict that a thousand more Antarctic voyagers will keep coming in year by year.

For cruising the White Continent, a single individual will have to pay around $20,000 and on the average, a 14 day cruise would cost him about $6,000 to $7,000 but then the traveler will have to cover his round trip air fare as he will need to come from the area where 90 percent of trips leave, in Tierra del Fuego found in Ushuaia, Argentina. Underneath the idea that Antarctica appears to be indefatigable despite the growing number of tourists, with the cost of going there even the harsh climate and geography, people still pose threats to the ecosystem, as stated by many environmental experts.

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. About 200 environment advocate groups from 40 different countries form this secretariat which is mainly this project based in Washington. It is just so sad that even if most who head to Antarctica come back swearing to abide by everything to ensure this continent's conservation, the fact that there are just too many explorers coming into this fragile land and they are loving this in dangerous ways.

This director is largely concerned about the many tourists venturing to the same places on Antarctic Peninsula which is 800 miles long and has the largest concentration of penguins, seals and birds so he is pushing for a 6,000 limit of visitors per year. But it is not usual for the tourist groups reaching the land at a time exceeding one hundred individuals. It is so bad that animals get disrupted when there are visitors for they cannot get food for themselves or for their young and they are also not able to rest.

Science doesn't yet know whether this will have long term impact she added. Tourists touching the plants and leaving garbage behind are among the growing concerns. The numbers of experienced staffs make sure that as tourists go ashore, minimal environmental impact is caused by tourists and this is also the reason why tour operators abide by Antarctic Treaty system pattered guidelines. The Antarctic Treaty of 1959, ratified after the signature of 43 different countries, on top of the environmental protocol signed last January 14, 1998 ended the oil explorations and mining operations as well as ventured into environmental safeguards from fishing limits up to Antarctic cruises on various seasons.

Members of the New York based association group have voluntarily adopted the limit for shore visits which can only accommodate a hundred people at a time and for this, they bring in the use of motorized rubber boats, zodiacs. Russian flags are being flown, this season, by nine air crafts out of the fifteen commissioned. The Soviet Union disbandment saw several small sea vessels seized by tour operators for their advantage. 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. Meanwhile, though, concern about Antarctica's environment persists. We hope to reach the day in the future that we could all look back, saying that our worries were in vain for they amounted to nothing at all. But let us all be responsible and keep ourselves from frequent Antarctic visits while science do not know the answers yet.

Fewer tourists, less environmental concerns

By: tinabarney

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