Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Projected
40000
Actual / Est.
34354
28826
35000
32637
30148
27206
27687
20530
30000
20246
22712
19836
24000
25000
21856
21466
11588
13571
20818
20000
13826
12248
16000
10013
14500
9604
14298
15000
13193
9367
0016
7413
8120
10883
10590
6
704
9061
10000
7991
7679
6524
6512
5000
0
92-93
93-94
94-95
95-96
96-97
97-98
98-99
99-00 00-01
Antarctic Austral Summer Seasons
01-02
02-03
93-94
94-95
95-96
96-97
97-98
08-09
09-10
10-11
11-12
Figure 10.13 Tourist numbers over the last 20 years for those visiting the continent by sea. (Credit: IAATO)
large cruise vessels, which bring passengers without landing. In the 2010
11 season
19 400 went ashore, nearly all of these were ship-based tourists going to the Antarctic
Peninsula, and 14 400 tourists went on board cruise vessels that did not make landings.
Therewerenoover-
-
ights by aircraft from IAATO members. It was incidentally an
over-
ight that led to by far the largest accident in Antarctica so far, when a commercial
airplane crashed into Mt Erebus in 1979, and all 257 on board were killed.
There have been several accidents with tourist vessels in recent years. This is
perhaps not surprising, in view of the increased activity, and given that these waters
are not all well charted, and frequently have icebergs and sometimes sea ice. The
most dramatic accident so far was the sinking of
Explorer
in late November 2007.
The 154 passengers and crew had to abandon ship, and lives could have been lost if
cruise ships such as the MS
Nordnorge
had not been in the vicinity. There have also
been cases of private yachts disappearing with loss of lives, and regulating small
yacht activity is now another area of concern.
It should be noted that over the years there have also been several accidents both with
ships and planes and helicopters operated by the national Antarctic research programmes,
including two ships being sunk. So it is not just tourism that leads to such mishaps.
In recent years the ATCMs have included a special working group addressing the issue
of tourism, but so far there has not been much progress on the most dif
cult issues. These
include questions of establishing permanent tourist facilities on land, which once again
raises the fundamental issues of rights to land. Who shall give a lease and a building permit?
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