KEY POINTS:
The 87-year-old adventurer Sir Edmund Hillary has returned to the frozen continent of Antarctica for what may be the last time. Tourists are also putting the continent on their wish list with a number of cruise ships offering trips there.
Should tourists be allowed to visit Antarctica?
Send us your views
Here is the latest selection of your views:
Karl Hudson
I worked as a member of the Catering Team supporting the US National Science Foundation (N.S.F.) and the US Navy back in the 84/5 summer season. It was then a pristine paradise and should always remain so. Any tourists that wish to visit Antarctica should undergo a regulated means test, which is based on values, and not on whether or not one has the cash. These guidelines should be established by scientists and environmentalists who have been there and who respect what The Ice is all about. If not, it will end up a dump site such as Mt. Fuji has regrettably become. Leave nothing but footprints!
Paula Chamberlain,Thames
How many of the intrepid explorers actually know what they are going down there for? Or is it this years must do? If so, how sad, or do they actually know who Scott and Shackleton were, or what they achieved ? What does our great explorer really think? It would be a THE great adventure for a minority, but at what cost to our environment?
Raj Kumar
No, under no circumstances and no guidelines. Its one of the few places on earth unspoilt and we prefer to leave it that way. Materialistic approach has led us to this state of environment and hope people come to senses before its too late.
Geoff Bone
Think for a moment what your saying when you suggest tourism to Antartica is a good idea. We all know how much carbon is released from flying an aeroplane over Antarctica but what about Cruise Ships.
Alarmingly, cruise ships are being allowed to operate without regulations necessary to protect our oceans.
Each cruise ship carries an average of 3,000 people and produces as much sewage and waste as a mid-sized city. Tons of raw sewage, garbage and even hazardous waste are produced and disposed of each day by a single ship. This constant discharge of waste into our oceans is multiplied by dozens of ships operating every year around Antarctica.
Cruise ships do not have to comply with environmental and water quality protection laws that are required for by say your local council. They are allowed to dump sewage and garbage directly into our oceans—and they do!
A ship's anchor will weigh up to 5 tonne and cause enormous damage as it scraps along the sea floor. Imagine the damage caused by a five tonne anchor dragging across your backyard as it attempts to stop a cruise ship from moving. And what if the anchor breaks? Are these cruise ships fitted with extra steal hulls to tackle random icebergs, this is Antarctica after all?
Finally diesel engines spew out diesel exhaust equivalent to 10,000 cars each day per ship and are kept idling, even when in port.
Now tell me hand on heart you think anyone should have a right to visit as a tourist knowing full well the damage we are creating.
Lets make the small sacrifice of not being an Antarctic tourist and begin the process of giving our kids a future.
Merv Halliday
What a dumb question. The answer is of course YES.
I could ask "Should tourists be allowed to visit the Moon" Once again the answer of course would be yes. "Should tourists be allowed to climb Everest" Once again the answer of course would be yes and they have. Tourists I think have already visited the International Space Station. If they want to pay and do it with organisations that are in that business go for it. Who are we to sit in our cosy chair and say "no".
I have visited the Antarctic, I paid for my ticket and went. You can not deny that right. To have the privilege I obviously paid for professional Guidance, Medical facilities along with a Dr and a Surgeon and a NZ Dept of Conservation person to be in attendance at all time. It wasn't cheap but was done properly, same as going to the Moon.
I bet some selfish "hotheads" will say NO to your stupid question.
Gabriel Pollard
I believe tourists should start visiting Antarctica in planes like in the past, but with more added security so a crash could not happen again. It would be good for planes to fly over Antarctica.
SB
I agree that if tourists were allowed to go there it would have to have very strict guidelines. I also think that whatever profits are raised from tourism to Antarctica should be put back into the continent (such as having environmental/ecological/research initiatives), rather than benefiting the tourism company - or else there will end up being a large number of companies competing with each other to get tourists over there, and that's when problems which will have a negative effect on the continent will take hold.
Norman James Milligan
Definitely not. As well as possibly polluting the seabed with their day to day rubbish there is the possibility of a grounding which would damage the environment and getting the tourists back home would be a major problem.
John O'Meara
As in other once pristine places throughout the world, tourists are only interested in what they have come to see. They are not interested in the pollution and destruction that they themselves are responsible for. In the end, it's all to do with money and profit, and the "I want it" attitude.
Madeleine Ware
Sure it should! But keep it expensive and limited to make sure only those who are really committed to visiting the area can do so, as most average people can't be trusted to adequately look after such a valuable and fragile environment.
Dr. Satyendra Bhandari
Yes, in my view tourists, by definition persons who wish to enjoy the beauty of Nature, should certainly be allowed to visit every nook and corner of the Earth, including Antarctica. All of us have inherited the Earth from our ancestors and we have the right to be there anywhere. And let them also make discoveries- Every human mind is fit to discover something unique!. Of course, this very fact demands that we should have some responsibilities attached (and these may be assigned to include care for the Antarctic Environment eg. each tourist might be asked to carry back his and any other human leftovers not belonging to Antarctica back with him), and it is the duty of every tourist and everyone to ensure that we leave the place as beautiful and better than what we inherited, for those who come afterwards - now and in the decades and centuries to come. Otherwise what on Earth we are here for!!!
John Wilson
Yes they should be allowed to visit the ice, provided they clean up before they leave.
Tim Fisher
Antarctica is the last wilderness bastion on this wonderful planet. It would be a catastrophe if we allowed tourists to pollute and potentially threaten the abundant life forms and numerous ecosystems that struggle to survive. However, if tourism is simply limited to flyo vers then if carefully regulated could be an acceptable alternative.
Brad
Yes certainly but it must be governed in regards to numbers and certain restrictions to protect the environment. This is a place I plan on seeing someday.
Rowena McGregor
Tourists should not be allowed to venture into the pristine continent that is Antarctica. There is enough strain placed on its environment by the researchers that regularly go there, and they have its best interests at heart. Lets leave one part of the world untouched by the tourists dollar.
