In 1992 just 6,000 nature-lovers made the long journey south. That number rose to 46,000 last season, a clear sign of the boom in travel to the area surrounding the South Pole. It also marks an increase in the number of shipping operators offering cruises to the Antarctic peninsula during the five-month period from November to March.
The onslaught of tourists have brought calls for new guidelines which would impose more stringent controls on the number of vessels visiting.
The voluntary International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO), which was set up in 1991, has already stipulated how many ships a year can visit the peninsula and where they must dock.
The aim is to limit the adverse impact on the environment. Tour organizers are required to give prior notice of visits and no more than 100 passengers at a time are allowed to set foot on the continent at any given landing. They are permitted to stay for a maximum of four hours.
The IAATO issued permission last season to 61 cruise ships. Five years ago only 35 permits were issued.
“Most of the ships opt sensibly for the ice-free passage,” said Johannes Zurnieden, deputy president of the German Travel Federation (DRV) in Berlin and managing director of a Bonn-based travel company, Phoenix Reisen. Most of the vessels visit the northern part of the peninsula “and that is enough to get the flavour of the Antarctic,” he said.
Vessels with more than 500 passengers on board are prohibited from landing, something to keep in mind if you’re eager to sample the genuine atmosphere of an Antarctic expedition.
Sebastian Ahrens, managing director of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises in Hamburg, helped set up the IAATO but would prefer operators be strictly regulated rather than rely on voluntary compliance.
“If you cruise along certain parts of the Norwegian coast, the authorities keep a very close watch, but for the Antarctic no clearly defined rules apply.”
The strain on the ecosystems of the Antarctic grows with every visitor to the territory even with the guidelines. The shoes of visitors are disinfected before and after they land and they are obliged to maintain a distance of least five metres from penguins and other animals.
Under the IAATO code of conduct, ships visiting Antarctica must be powered by diesel rather than the heavy fuel oils normally used by many vessels, and water and waste may not be discharged into Antarctic waters.
-IANS
By Hilke Segbers
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