ANTARCTIC NON-GOVERNMENT ACTIVITY NEWS
Tourism Industry |
Brief news items on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic
non-government expedition activities.
ANAN 52
Wednesday, 1 August 2001
News in this edition:
52-01. ATCM Lists Tourism for 'Detailed Discussion' in 2002.
52-02. Call for Cap, Restrictions, on Tourism Activity.
52-03. Tourist Numbers Fall but Further Increases Forecast.
52-04. Cost of Around-The-World Polar Flight Tickets Slashed.
52-05. Coroner Indicates '2041' Death Diabetes-Related.
52-06. East Antarctic Overflight on Offer to World Cruise Pax.
52-07. Quark Expeditions Appoints New CEO/President.
52-08. Coming Events Relevant to Non-Government Activities.
IN READING PLEASE NOTE: This newsletter is produced in the interest of improved information sharing in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic community. Inclusion of information in it should not be taken to imply endorsement, by the publishers of ANAN News, of any company, program or associated activity that is listed, nor that the activity has necessarily completed all environmental impact assessments required under the legislation of the 'home' nation concerned.
ATCM LISTS TOURISM FOR 'DETAILED DISCUSSION' IN 2002
[ANAN-52/01]
The twenty-fourth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM-XXIV) held in St Petersburg, Russia, last month agreed that the issue of tourism should be considered in detail at ATCM-XXV in September 2002. Next year's discussions, which will be the first substantial consideration of tourism by an ATCM since 1993, will mark the end of a decade in which tourist numbers have doubled and there has been a significant diversification in the range of activities undertaken (ANAN-50/01, 4 July 2001).
The final report from ATCM-XXIV noted that "... there is an increase in the diversity of tourism activities which may present new management challenges" and said that it had been agreed that the appropriate management of Antarctic tourism was of importance. The potential for a further increase in tourist numbers in the future, reported by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO), was also noted.
The IAATO Report was one of several Information Papers on tourism matters that were tabled in St Petersburg by non-government attendees. Discussions which flowed from these occurred in the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP), which deals with issues related to the Madrid Protocol, and Working Groups I and II whose focus is on legal and operational matters respectively.
The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), a world-wide association of environmental groups which was present in St Petersburg as an invited expert, tabled an information paper that explored the context and consequences of Antarctic tourism and suggested that tourism policy not be left solely to the industry (see ANAN-52/02 following). ASOC argued that the time had come for Antarctic Treaty Parties to debate seriously "... future moderation, and practical management, of Antarctic tourism."
IAATO, which also attends ATCMs as an invited expert, provided information on 2001-02 tourist numbers (see ANAN-52/03 following), as well as on issues related to cumulative environmental impacts of tourist activities. IAATO also gave a presentation to the meeting's Working Group II about the changes it recently made to its structure in an attempt to deal better with the changes that are occurring in their industry (ANAN-51/01, 18 July 2001).
A number of national delegations as well as IAATO, expressed concern about the practical issues involved in the management of adventure tourism activities, especially those related to the provision of search and rescue support to non-government groups which experience difficulties. Those concerns may stem in part from a number of incidents involving both national program and commercial tour operators earlier this year (ANAN-41/04, 14 February 2001).
It is too early to know how discussions on tourism matters will be handled at ATCM-XXV. The issues involved are complex, range across a wide spectrum and could involve questions related to liability, operations and the environment. Such matters are normally dealt with by a number of sub-groups which convene within each ATCM, including the CEP and Working Groups I and II.
ATCM-XXV is scheduled to be held in Warsaw, Poland, from 3-14 September 2002.
TO THE TOP
CALL FOR CAP, RESTRICTIONS, ON TOURISM ACTIVITY
[ANAN-52/02]
Strong measures are needed if Antarctica's values are to be protected from the impacts of tourism according to a paper tabled by the Antarctic and South Ocean Coalition (ASOC) at last month's Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM).
Recommendations made by the environmental group include: a cap on overall tourist levels; that land-based infrastructure should not be developed or used for tourism; limiting ship transport to ice-capable ships of a high international standard; not authorising (for a reviewable period) intercontinental air transport of tourists into Antarctica; and a call for improvements in environmental assessment and monitoring of visitor impacts.
In its wide-ranging paper ASOC acknowledges that tourism can be a positive force, but it is concerned that commercial activities such as tourism and fishing have the potential to de-stabilise the Antarctic Treaty System if the issues involved are not managed in an impartial manner which takes into account issues of environmental protection as well as the value of a proposed activity.
ASOC makes the point that the spread of world-wide tourism trends into Antarctica should not be looked upon as a 'fait accompli' just because the technological capabilities are available that permit a wide range of activities that were not possible just a few years ago. According to it the region is in its view different in both a natural and political sense from anywhere else on the globe, and this should not be forgotten in any consideration of the issues involved.
The environment group points to changes in the "scale of the industry" and the growing tendency for the "smaller owner-operator" companies that have long conducted Antarctic tourism to be replaced by "large companies and multi-nationals". That, in turn, claims ASOC, will result in further pressures, and given current logistics capabilities, "nothing", "except perhaps an accident costing many lives" will limit these potential changes.
ASOC is also concerned that tourism management has in its words "largely [been] subcontracted to the International Association of Antarctic[a] Tour Operators (IAATO)" by the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS). It claims that IAATO has emerged as a group with "a 'de facto' veto on any policy that might adversely affect the tourist industry", and that Antarctica has emerged as an area that is "is essentially free of any controls beyond those established by the industry itself".
The "ATS's confidence in IAATO [because] it was a small tight group with a commitment to particular environmental standards", is cause for concern given the way the industry is changing says ASOC. It believes that at some point either IAATO will abandon its standards in order to remain dominant in the industry, or a range of other tourist groups will emerge" who will seek comparable levels of access and participation to IAATO. This, says the environmental group, has the potential to make management of tourism even more complex than at the present time.
ASOC's comments caused some controversy at ATCM-XXIV, the report from the meeting indicating that "some national delegations" had concerns about "aspects" of the environmental group's views. While nothing is known publicly about the specific nature of the aspects that caused concern, the St Petersburg meeting agreed that the papers presented, and the resulting discussion, demonstrated that tourism is an important Treaty issue that should be the subject of detailed discussion at XXV ATCM (see ANAN-52/01 preceding).
A full copy of ASOC's ATCM-XX-IV paper is expected to be available on line in the near future at: http://www.asoc.org/
TO THE TOP
TOURIST NUMBERS FALL BUT FURTHER INCREASES FORECAST
[ANAN-52/03]
Just over 15,000 commercial tourists are believed to have experienced Antarctica either by sea, on land or during an overflight in the 2000-01 austral summer, a fall of twenty per cent or 4,000 on the record 1999-2000 'Millennium' season (ANAN-26/01, 19 July 2000). The data, which were provided by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) to the twenty-fourth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM-XXIV) last month (see ANAN-52/01 preceding), also suggest that numbers could rise towards Millennium levels in 2001-02, and climb by forty per cent beyond that by the middle of the decade.
According to IAATO's figures for the 2000-01 season, which were collated by the United States National Science Foundation (ANAN-23/02, 7 June 2000), the number of tourists who actually set foot on the continent fell from the record 14,591 for 1999-2000 to 12,248, while just over 3,000 took part in overflights, a decline of 1,500.
As was expected, the Antarctic Peninsula again saw the majority of visitors, although the absence of several large vessels that operated there during the Millennium season resulted in numbers falling by just over 2,000, a decrease larger than that predicted by ANAN late last year (ANAN-34/07, 8 November 2000). This drop was also reflected by the eleven per cent fall in the number of Antarctic tourists who passed through the southern Argentinian port of Ushuaia last season (ANAN-51/06, 18 July 2001)
Ninety-six per cent of total tourists, or 11,724 people, landed from ships or yachts in the Peninsula area, 385 (3 per cent) set foot along the west coast of the Ross Sea, while 139 (1 per cent) visited the interior with US based company Adventure Network International (ANI). Of the 3,000 overflight passengers last season, two-thirds flew over East Antarctica and the remainder over the Antarctic Peninsula.
In 1999-2000, Peninsula tourist visitors reached a record 13,900, the Ross Sea figure was just over 300, while those who flew into the interior with ANI totalled 139.
Last season was ANI's first since it was purchased by US tour company Grand Expeditions Incorporated (ANAN-28/01, 16 August 2000). During 2000-01, seventy-two of ANI's clients, or almost two-thirds of its total, are believed to have travelled to Antarctica specifically to climb Vinson Massif. Of these, sixty-three making the ascent without guides. Fourteen people were flown to the South Geographic Pole itself, six to visit emperor penguin colonies in Coates Land, while twenty-eight were involved in a range of traverses to the Pole and beyond. The paper says that six ANI clients visited Dronning Maud Land, a figure that appears low given the range of activities conducted there last season.
The Chilean regional air line La Linea Aerea de la Patagonia (DAP) again flew tourists from Punta Arenas to King George Island, however IAATO says that information on the numbers carried and the frequency of flights is unavailable.
According to the IAATO paper, Chilean operator Avant conducted nineteen Peninsula overflights using Boeing 737 aircraft operating out of Punta Arenas. A total of 1,028 passengers was carried, 934 being tourists while 84 are described as "escorts". The flights are said to spend one hour sightseeing at a "minimum altitud of around 1,300 m, which is somewhat higher than the 300-600 m reported previously in advertisements and by observers on the ground (ANAN-47/04, 23 May 2001).
Overflights of East Antarctica are also carried out from Australia, last season operations carrying 2,052 passengers and 124 crew (ANAN-43/05, 28 February 2001).
IAATO's paper predicts that total sea, land and overflight visitors will, by the middle of the decade in 2005-06, be about 35,000, more than double the current figure. That data suggest that around 22,000 tourists could visit by small/medium-sized ships, on yachts or be flown on to the continent, 7,000 may see the region from large cruise ships which make no landings, while overflight numbers might be in the order of 5,500.
While IAATO's forecasts of tourist numbers have been generally accurate in the past, the tourist association warns that it is becoming increasingly difficult for it to provide accurate projections due to the rapid changes that are occurring in the industry.
IAATO's maintains a web site at http://www.iaato.org/ which provides detailed information on tourist numbers and other reports from previous ATCMs.
COST OF AROUND-THE-WORLD POLAR FLIGHT TICKETS SLASHED
[ANAN-52/04]
US-based Concorde Spirit Tours (CST), which is chartering an aircraft that will fly across Antarctica in November as part of an attempt to set a new time for an around-the-world record flight via both geographic poles, has slashed its seat prices dramatically in a bid to improve bookings.
Thirty-eight business and 156 economy class seats were still available on the proposed 17-19 November record attempt late last week, one leg of which includes a twelve-hour, 10,900 km non-stop flight from Rio Gallegos in southern Argentina to Perth, Australia via the South Geographic Pole (ANAN-43/01, 28 February 2001).
An announcement posted on the company's web site on the weekend (http://www.concorde-spirit-tours.com) says that the business class fare for the two-day flight has been cut by two-thirds from the original $US9,500 to $US3,495. In addition the rate in economy drops from $US7,500 to $US1,995, a fall of over seventy per cent, and seats in this category can now be purchased individually rather than only in pairs as per original arrangements. There is no mention of vacancies in the first class area where the price of seats was originally put at $US14,500.
CST says that what it calls its 'Final Seat Liquidation Sale' for the bi-polar flight is "due to the current world economy" and that it has been "compelled" to "slash all remaining seat prices to the bone, in order to fly on-schedule". It concludes by indicating that the sale is to continue until "16 August, or until seats sell-out".
A South African Airways' Boeing 747-400 aircraft is to be chartered by CST for the record attempt.
TO THE TOP
CORONER INDICATES '2041' DEATH DIABETES-RELATED
[ANAN-52/05]
The death of a 'Mission Antarctica' member Philippa Gregory on the yacht '2041' last January was directly related to her diabetic condition according to the findings of a Coronial enquiry completed recently in the UK. Gregory died as '2041' was en route from Puerto Williams, Chile, to the South Shetland Islands off the north-western Antarctic Peninsula (ANAN-40/01, 31 January 2001).
Gregory, a UK national who was twenty-six at the time of her death, was an insulin-dependent diabetic, having been diagnosed as such at the age of five. She had been cleared to participate in the voyage to Antarctica by a number of doctors, and provided with a range of medicines and testing gear by her personal physician in the UK, as well as additional training in aspects of her disorder.
A report provided by an Officer from the Royal Falklands Island Police (RFIP) to the Coroner indicates that '2041' left Puerto Williams in Chile early on the morning of 22 January and that she succumbed just three days later, less than twelve hours prior to the yacht reaching King George Island in the South Shetlands.
According to the RFIP report, Phillipa, along with some other crewmembers, became sea sick soon after '2041' left the Beagle Channel and headed out into the notoriously rough Drake Passage. Two days later she was reported to have been generally very weak having been unable to hold down any food and being confined to her bunk for virtually all of that period. Gregory's condition worsened considerably in the early hours of 25 January. Crewmembers, who had been briefed on her diabetes and basic emergency measures prior to the voyage, administered glucose, but to little effect. The yacht's skipper, Mark Hopkins, made contact via satellite telephone with a hospital in the UK to obtain first-hand medical advice, but during the early stages of the conversation Phillipa stopped breathing.
The post mortem examination says in part that Gregory's "unfortunate" death "illustrates the problems of controlling diabetes in challenging physiological situations [such] as prolonged sea sickness". It also says that while the precise nature of her death is "fairly unclear", the circumstances indicate that she died as a result of a disturbance in her diabetes control brought about as a result of prolonged sea sickness.
Several expeditioners with diabetes will be taking part in the 'Ultimate Walk to Cure Diabetes Expedition', a trek to the South Geographic Pole from Hercules Inlet in Ellsworth Land in 2002-03 which will attempt to raise monies for research into Type 1 (early onset) diabetes. A problem for insulin-dependent expeditioners on an Antarctic trek is how to prevent the insulin from freezing lest it become unusable (ANAN-47/03, 23 May 2001).
TO THE TOP
EAST ANTARCTIC OVERFLIGHT ON OFFER TO WORLD CRUISE PAX
[ANAN-52/06]
U.S. company Holland America Line Westours (HALW) is to offer passengers taking part in a round-the-world voyage of its ship 'Amsterdam' the opportunity to overfly parts of East Antarctica when the ship visits Sydney, Australia, on 16 February next year.
HALW is offering the flight to its 'Amsterdam' passengers as a 'day shore excursion' in a similar manner to those offered passengers of large cruise ships which visit Punta Arenas, Chile (ANAN-47/04, 23 May 2001). The half-day flight, which is being arranged by Australian company Croydon Travel using a Qantas Boeing 747-400 aircraft, is additional to six other over flights Croydon plans to conduct in 2001-02 (ANAN-43/05, 28 February 2001).
Holland America's Herman van Deursen told ANAN only the two seats adjacent to windows in the aircraft will be sold for the flight. This move is expected to reduce passenger numbers to around 160, about half those who are normally on board Croydon's flights, and means that 'Amsterdam' clients will pay a high premium for seats which are expected to cost $US1999.
Croydon sells the first four seats out from the windows, swapping the pair of passengers nearest to the window with those adjacent to the aisle half-way through the viewing period over Antarctica; as well as window and some centre row seats, although these seats sell at a lower price.
Two experienced Antarctic commentators will be on board the flight, as well as an official observer from the Australian national program if the practice of the last few years is followed.
2001-02 is the eighth straight season Croydon Travel and Qantas have conducted overflights of East Antarctic coastal regions. If all of next season's currently planned flights operate it will bring to sixty-five the number of such operations conducted by those companies since 1994.
In addition to the East Antarctic and Peninsula overflights next season, a South African Airways' Boeing 747-400 is scheduled to fly across Antarctica as part of an around-the-world via the Pole record attempt in mid-November (see ANAN-52/04 preceding).
TO THE TOP
US company Quark Expeditions, which has conducted a range of tour operations in Antarctica since 1991, has appointed former Marine Expeditions President Pat Shaw as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President. Shaw, who has been involved in polar tour operations for almost a decade, took up the role at Quark on 1 July.
Quark's owner Lars Wikander, who had been acting as CEO and President since the departure of Ute Hohn-Bowen in March last year, said in a statement that he believes Shaw is "well respected within the polar cruise industry and has the business development skills needed to expand [Quark's] cruise activities and to ensure that the company continues to meet the demands of a changing business environment."
Shaw commenced his association with Antarctica with the former Canadian company Marine Expeditions Inc. (MEI) in 1992, working for many years as an expedition leader prior to his appointment as MEI's ship operations head. Quark says that during his time at MEI he "helped to revolutionise travel to the polar regions by creating economic, educationally focussed cruise operations", something the Canadian company was well-known for. He was also involved in the establishment of the marathon and half-marathon running races that have been held on King George Island off the Antarctic Peninsula since 1995 (ANAN-18/03, 29 March 2000).
After the financial collapse of MEI last year (ANAN-34/01, 8 November 2000), Shaw helped establish MEI's successor, Marine Expeditions, being appointed its President last August. He remained there until the new company folded last June after just ten months of operation, a situation that is understood to have occurred because of the new company's association with MEI's financial liabilities (ANAN-49/01, 20 June 2001).
Shaw, a Canadian, studied initially at the University of Toronto and has completed post-graduate degrees from the London School of Economics and the Richard Ivey School of Business. He has lived and worked for extended periods in Europe, Australia and South America and speaks three languages.
TO THE TOP
COMING EVENTS RELEVANT TO NON-GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES
[ANAN-52/08]
Please forward notice of events via e-mail to: tourism@aad.gov.au. Up-dates are made to ANAN's web site at
http://www.antdiv.gov.au/goingsouth/tourism/Research/BibConf/Confer/default.asp as soon as new information comes to hand.
YEAR 2001
20-24 August (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
COMNAP XIII (including the sub-committee on Tourism and
Non-Government Operations).
Contact: jsayers@comnap.aq (Jack Sayers).
27 August - 1 September (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
VIII SCAR Biology Symposium (Session on "Antarctic research, human impacts and environmental policy").
For registration contact: vu_conference@dienst.vu.nl
September [Dates to be finalised] (Brittany, France)
Second international exhibition for polar philately.
Contact: philex.pole@laposte.net
12-16 November (Wilton Park, U.K.)
Conference: "40 Years On: The Antarctic Treaty System in the 21st Century".
Participation by invitation only.
YEAR 2002
30 January (King George Island, Antarctica)
Fifth Antarctic Marathon and Half Marathon.
Contact: marathon@shore.net (Thom Gilligan).
Last week of June [Dates/location to be set] (Europe).
IAATO year 2002 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org (Denise Landau)(invitation required).
8-19 July (Shanghai, China).
XXVII SCAR (Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research).
13-18 July (Shanghai, China)
COMNAP XIV (including the sub-committee on Tourism and Non-Government
Operations).
Contact: jsayers@comnap.aq (Jack Sayers).
3-14 September (Warsaw, Poland)
Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting XXV
YEAR 2003
July [Dates to be set] (Seattle, United States).
IAATO year 2003 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org (Denise Landau)(invitation required).
23 November (Queen Mary and Dronning Maud Land regions).
Total solar eclipse (See ANAN-3/08, 1 September 1999).
TO THE TOP
NEXT ISSUE: ANAN-53 to be issued on Wednesday, 15 August 2001
Deadline for items: Sunday, 12 August 2001 @ 2359 UTC. (send any items to tourism@aad.gov.au)