Opinions about Tourism in Antarctica

Some people thought it should be allowed to go But with great care

Callum thought: I have read over many sites about the prose and cons of Antarctica tourism and my opinion is that it should be allowed to carry on. I know about the environmental disaster but maybe if the tours were on a much smaller scale then it would work. Antarctica seems like a marvellous piece of nature I want to go there one day myself and shouldn't be cut off from the world. We can go to the desert, so why cant we go to the ice? But there has been accidents like the famous M/S explorer who had sank in 2007 but all in all i say lets go to Antarctica while its still there.

Emma thought I think the tourism is good in many ways but it needs to be controlled so it doesn’t damage the environment. It’s a very special place to visit as you can see seals, penguins, whales, glaciers and carving glaciers, you wouldn’t be able to see all of these in many other places. It would be like any other special place you visit you would need to respect it and not leave rubbish or pollution behind. So by limiting the amount of visitors you can have tourism but still protect the special ecosystem. The treaty put in place is designed to do just that so the people carefully follow that tourism shouldn’t damage Antarctica but can bring some money into the local communities that help the people of Antarctica. Looking at the pictures on the website I can see exactly why people would want to visit this place. I especially like the picture of the penguin with it’s baby and it would be very special to be able to see it in real life with your own eyes in the place it was supposed to be not just in a zoo.

Jacob thought Tourism should not stop in Antarctica because it is such a special place to go once in your life. I do, however, think it should be greatly reduced. I think that there should be one trip there per year so that there is not much pollution and damage added to it.

Joe thought The answer to the question, should Antarctica be closed to the public? I would say not completely, there should be a couple of areas where people should be allowed to go on supervised walks for safety. It wouldn’t be fair to shut Antarctica off to the public just because of a few bad people, some people may have a real passion for travelling and no world wide travel would be complete without a trip to Antarctica closing it off would destroy the dreams of thousands of innocent tourists. So no Antarctica should not be closed to tourists.

Thomas thought I think that tourism in Antarctica should be allowed, but rules should be made stricter and the number of visitors should be restricted to a set limit each year. I think tourism should be on a much smaller scale in Antarctica due to its natural environment which is in a very fragile state. The natural landscape is the beauty of the Antarctica and is home to many species of animals. If hotels and other tourist facilities were built this would all be destroyed. Not only would the world become imbalanced but the tourists would stop going there as the reasons for going would no longer exist. By limiting the number of tourists each year the number of facilities could also be restricted to a level that the Antarctica could sustain.

Thomas thought By allowing limited tourism this would help the Antarctica. Firstly it would bring a source of income to the area and more importantly it would allow people to see at first hand the damage that is being caused to the area by global warming. If people experience this, they will tell others and hopefully steps will then be taken to reduce global warming eg. walking or using public transport instead of cars. If tourism is allowed to develop too much, the existing way of life of many of Antarctica’s people would change. Instead of everyday jobs such as fishing, people would be attracted by money and greed and adjust their way of living to take into account tourism eg. fishermen becoming tourist guides using their boats. As well as locals losing their independence animals already in danger could become extinct as the eco system is changed.

Some people thought it should not be allowed

No’or puts both sides of the arguement There are two sides to this argument the first one is whether to allow tourism in Antarctica because it is such a beautiful place for people to visit. The Antarctic Treaty decided to place restrictions on the amount of people that are allowed to visit and the size of the cruise ships. They will allow five hundred passengers to visit but only one hundred are allowed of the ship at a time. There will be one guide for every twenty tourists. They will be doing safety checks on each ship to make sure that the captain does his job correctly to avoid accidents and safety checks on the vessels to be sure it doesn’t affect the water putting animals at risk.

But … continues No’or The second argument is to not allow tourism in Antarctica. If people were allowed into Antarctica it would affect the environment because people who are stepping on the land are wearing it out and if animals come and sniff it out they will know some mammal has been in there territory and will have to find a new home. In 2008 several accidents had occurred causing a risk of contamination, there is a high risk of an accident happening. In less than ten years the visits from Antarctica has risen to forty–five thousand explaining that the more people who go see it will tell people they know increasing the number of people over time.

So, No’or says in conclusion … My opinion is that Antarctica should become a closed environmental reserve that is only giving access to scientists and explorers with permission, because it is better to send people there like the National Geographic to video tape it instead of people visiting and destroying it.

Ryan makes a good case against I think that Antarctic tourism should be stopped because of the risk of environmental accidents and to preserve the landscape and wildlife rather than to turn into another tourist destination. Although the size of cruise ships entering Antarctica is limited to ships that can contain less than five hundred people and there must not be over one hundred people on land at a time, there is still the risk that the tourists may disobey the rules on rubbish disposal by throwing a piece of rubbish overboard in Antarctic waters or dropping rubbish on land if they decide to explore the land. These things could still happen even though all the tourists must accept the conditions of the Antarctic Treaty and have their own government’s permission before they leave. Another danger of Antarctic tourism is the risk of accidents with ships and fuel spillages. There has been a rule passed by the International Maritime Organisation which bans ships from carrying and using the more dangerous “heavy fuel” oils. However, even with the tourist ships using fuel like marine diesel oil, which is considered less polluting, fuel is still a toxic chemical and a spillage could cause serious damage to many marine mammals which live in Antarctica.

Ryan makes a good case against Tourists may introduce foreign plant or animal species and disease. Seeds or spores of non native plants may be unknowingly introduced through the clothing and equipment of tourists or by the food that they bring, therefore disrupting the fragile eco system of the rare animals that live in Antarctica. This would also happen if any small, foreign animals such as insects had managed to stow away on the ship as it travelled from country to country. Any diseases which the tourists carry can mutate and begin to affect the rare mammals which live there. This was why huskies were removed from Antarctica as they carried a disease (distemper) which was dangerous to the native seals. Finally, the high volume of tourists visiting each year may ruin the pristine beauty which attracts people to come to Antarctica. With 45, 213 tourists visiting in the 2008-9 tourism season, and most visits being during the summer months when it is easier to navigate and explore, the Antarctic wildlife is disturbed during important events e.g. breeding seasons and there is a risk of whales or seals following tourist ships, then becoming stranded outside of Antarctica. If large amounts of people keep visiting Antarctica for many years, the isolation and unpolluted beauty which attracts them will disappear.