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Tourism in Antarctica

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A party of skiers arrives after traversing overland to the South Pole, December 2009

Tourism in Antarctica started with sea tourism in the 1960s. Air overflights of Antarctica started in the 1970s with sightseeing flights by airliners from Australia and New Zealand, and were resumed in the 1990s. Private yacht trips started in the late 1960s. The (summer) tour season lasts from November to March. Most of the estimated 14,762 visitors to Antarctica in 1999-2000 were on sea cruises.[1] Only a small amount of the world population visits Antarctica each year representing less than 1%. In the 2009 to 2010 tourist season, over 37,000 people visited the great white continent.

Landing in Antarctica

Tourism Companies are required by the Antarctic Treaty to have a permit to visit Antarctica.[2] Many sea cruises include a landing by RIB (Zodiac, helicopter, and now cruise ships are more common. Some land visits may include mountaineering, skiing or even a visit to the South Pole.[3] Most operators are members of IAATO (International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators).

Sea cruises

The expedition ship National Geographic Explorer

Expedition cruising was pioneered by Lars-Eric Lindblad; in 1969, he launched the MS Lindblad Explorer a purpose-built liner.[4]

Many of the sea cruises leave from Ushuaia in Argentina. Costs are at least U.S. $5,000, though occasionally cheaper late cancellations may be obtained at Ushuaia.[5]

There is limited sea cruises to the Ross Sea and East Antarctic (Commonwealth Bay) regions of Antarctica. The New Zealand expedition travel company Heritage Expeditions operates its own ice-strengthened polar research vessel the 'Spirit of Enderby' to these regions several times a year.

Scenic flights

A Basler BT-67 owned by Antarctic Logistics Centre International and used for tourist flights in Antarctica, at the South Pole in December 2009

Scenic flights from Australia and New Zealand in 1977-1979 flew to the Antarctic mainland without landing and returned to the departure airport. Flights resumed from Australia in 1994. These flights were regarded as domestic not international, although Air NZ flights had an international (TE) prefix. Qantas flights were all charter flights, organized by groups like the Scouts for fund-raising. Some Air NZ flights were charter flights, and others were non-scheduled services with tickets sold by the airline and agents. Tour packages were sold in Japan, and flights with Sir Edmund Hillary as commentator were popular. Flights take 12 to 14 hours, with up to four hours over the continent.

Qantas started on 13 February 1977, with a flight organized by Sydney entrepreneur Dick Smith. By 1979, 27 flights had carried more than 7,000 passengers. Most used Boeing 747Bs, and flew from Sydney, Melbourne or Perth on two “ice” routes. One went along the coast of George V Land to the French base in Adele Land then back over the South Magnetic Pole. The other went over Oates Land and northern Victoria Land to Cape Washington in the Ross Dependency. In 1977 one went over McMurdo Sound and Mount Erebus. Some shorter flights from Melbourne were in Boeing 707s.[6] Flights from Australia stopped about 1980 but resumed in 1994 (see Croydon Travel).

Air New Zealand flights started on 15 February 1977. There were six in 1977, four in 1978, and four in 1979. The last flight was Air New Zealand Flight 901 of 28 November 1979 which crashed into Mount Erebus. The DC-10 flights flew from Auckland to McMurdo Sound, with later flights flying down the middle of the sound and over Scott Base rather than over Ross Island and near Mount Erebus. Many descended low over McMurdo Sound for the view, but could not go particularly slow as wing flaps could not be used to slow the aircraft in case they could not be retracted.[7]

There were earlier scenic overflights, e.g. from Chile in 1958.[8]

Yachting

There were private yacht voyages in the Southern Ocean from the late 1960s, with some circumnavigations of Antarctica e.g. by David Henry Lewis in 1972.[9]

There are now about 30 yachts each year visiting the Antarctic Peninsula, which is in the warmer “banana belt.” Many four-day cruises leave from Tierra del Fuego in Argentina, others from Ushuaia or Stanley. Yachts should carry one or both of the official cruising guides; the British guide is superior but more expensive than the American guide.[10][11]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tourism in Antarctica.

Notes

  1. ^ Trewby page 188
  2. ^ Rubin page 338
  3. ^ Trewby page 188
  4. ^ Trewby page 187
  5. ^ Rubin page 17
  6. ^ Hickson page 165
  7. ^ Macfarlane pp 155-156
  8. ^ Trewby page 187
  9. ^ Rubin page 81
  10. ^ Rubin page 349-350
  11. ^ Poncet

References

  • Carey, Peter; Franklin, Craig (2nd edn 2009) [2006]. Antarctica Cruising Guide. Awa Press, Wellington NZ. ISBN 978-0-9582916-3-7. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link) Publishers website
  • Rubin, Jeff (4th edn 2008) [1996]. Antarctica. Lonely Planet. ISBN 978-1-74104-549-9. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link) Publishers website
  • Trewby (editor), Mary (2002). Antarctica: An encyclopaedia from Abbott ice shelf to zoo plankton. David Bateman Auckland NZ. ISBN 1869534530. {{cite book}}: |last1= has generic name (help) (see Tourism, pp187-188)
  • Hickson, Ken (1980). Flight 901 to Erebus. Whitcoulls, Christchurch NZ. ISBN 0 7233 0641 9.
  • Macfarlane, Stuart (1991). The Erebus papers: edited extracts from the Erebus proceedings with commentary. Avon Press, Auckland NZ. ISBN 0 473 00844 0 9. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help)

Yachting references

  • The Antarctic Pilot (2004) by Hydrographer of the Navy, Britain.
  • Sailing Directions (Planning Guide & Enroute) for Antarctica (2007) by US National Imagery and Mapping Agency.
  • Poncet, Sally & Jerome (2007) [1991]. Southern Ocean Cruising. Environmental Research and Assessment. {{cite book}}: Text "isbn" ignored (help) Publishers website
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