Scientists study effects

AS record numbers of visitors prepare to make their way to Antarctica this season, researchers are hard at work developing strategies to minimise the environmental impact of tourism on the icy continent.

More than 100,000 people are expected to visit Antarctica over the summer months, eclipsing the pre-pandemic high of 75,000 in 2019-20.

Supported by $1.5m in grant funding from the Dutch government, University of Tasmania academics have teamed up with research institutions from the Netherlands, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia to predict the impacts of Antarctic tourism into the future.

The researchers have also partnered with Antarctic NGOs, including the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, and the European Tourism Futures Institute, to chart a way forward for the growing industry. Elizabeth Leane, the Associate Dean Research Performance in the College of Arts at UTAS, said tourism was largely contained to a relatively small part of the Antarctic Peninsula, creating a cumulative impact on several sites, such as King George Island.

She said while “clustered tourism” might contain the “area of potential damage to the continent”, stakeholders needed to understand whether more cruise ships and tourism were “manageable into the future”.

“We want to produce a series of tools that stakeholders and particularly governments can use when making decisions into the future,” Professor Leane said.

“So really [the research is developing] tools to help policymakers confront the uncertainties of the future and to do so in a way that’s really evidence-based and draws … on research.”

Professor Leane said she believed the increase in visitor numbers this season could be