Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Some members of the scientific community complain that tourism interferes with the conduct
of scientific research, and can be a distraction for staff attached to research stations.
Critics, however, point out that tourism in the 1980s played a powerful role in forcing
scientists to improve their environmental behaviour in and around research stations.
Tourists discovered that open-air burning of waste was carried out at some research
stations. With the entry into force of the Protocol on Environmental Protection in 1998,
Consultative Members, in consultation with IAATO, have worked to create guidelines and
provisions regarding insurance, contingency planning, responsible behaviour in Antarctica,
and the like. Enforcing guidelines is problematic given the contested sovereignty of
Antarctica and the multi-national nature of the industry itself. Tour operators working in
the Antarctic do not have to be members of IAATO, and concerns have been expressed that
tour operators eager to provide their clients with ever more dramatic and extraordinary
experiences will push to offer new 'discoveries' off the established routes of ship-based
tourism in particular. As with skiing, there is an incentive to go off-piste, especially when
faced with a situation in which you might have several ships literally taking turns to visit
popular sites in the Antarctic Peninsula. Tracking and tracing vessels, in sometimes poorly
mapped Antarctic waters, represents a considerable challenge made worse by commercial
pressures to offer, as we noted, a unique experience. A new mandatory international code of
safety for ships operating in polar waters, which might take effect in 2013, should address
some outstanding concerns relating to ship safety, training, and safety equipment.
The continued discovery of Antarctica by tourists is an important element in the wider
human encounter with the polar continent and surrounding ocean. There have been
shipping-related accidents, and if the sector continues to expand post-financial crisis, then
pressure will mount for further action regarding regulation. But we should also remember
that tourism, whether invoking discovery or not, is economically and politically significant.
Claimant states, especially those possessing gateway ports in Argentina, Chile, the Falkland
Islands, Australia, and New Zealand, benefit from this industry. Tourists spend money in
these places as well as on the boats and planes plying up and down to Antarctica.
Politically, port state jurisdiction and the control of tourist activity help to cement a de facto
authority over Antarctic territories. Argentina, Australia, and Chile have all discussed
further land-based facilities such as hotels and the way in which this infrastructure provides
opportunities to cement sovereign authority and make money. Tourism willymbols of anth
