ANTARCTIC NON-GOVERNMENT ACTIVITY NEWS
Tourism Industry |
Brief news items on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic
non-government expedition activities.
ANAN 77
Wednesday, 17 July 2002
News in this edition:
77-01. Most companies post good results despite world uncertainty.
77-02. Peninsula landing numbers fall for a second season.
77-03. IAATO admits Holland America to full membership.
77-04. Ship congestion issue to be examined in detail.
77-05. Arrangements for US/UK station visits discussed.
77-06. DML flight fuel delivered prior to 'Oldendorff' besetment.
77-07. 2003 meeting to look at next decade at South Georgia.
77-08. Wiencke Island climbing and skiing sojourns on offer.
77-09. Coming Events Relevant to Non-Government Activities.
MOST COMPANIES POST GOOD RESULTS DESPITE WORLD UNCERTAINTY
[ANAN-77/01]
The Antarctic tourist industry appears to have recorded good results during the 2001-02 austral summer despite a period of significant uncertainty following the events of last September. Many in the industry were buoyed by the final result for the season, and early reports suggest that bookings for 2002-03 are already running at high levels, although changes in the wider economy could still impact on the final result.
Data released at the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators' (IAATO) 2002 annual meeting on 3 July show that at least 11,588 tourists travelled to, and landed on, the continent by ship, yacht or by air in 2001-02. As in previous years, the majority of tourists visited the Antarctic Peninsula region south of South America (see ANAN-77/02 following).
Most companies that operated tour ships in Antarctica in the 2000-01 austral summer were able to hold, and in some cases significantly improve on, the number of passengers they carried to the continent in 2001-02.
The demise of former Canadian operator Marine Expeditions last year was obviously of benefit as some firms appear to have picked up at least some of that company's clients (ANAN-49/01, 20 June 2001). Discounting of some fares also played a part in the good results achieved. While profits were reported to have been down, the final outcome for the season was, according to one operator at the IAATO meeting, "manageable, and quite a relief given the tragedies of last year".
Reports from within the tour industry in the weeks after 11 September suggested that while the operators and their associates had to work hard, many felt that they could hold the line with bookings (ANAN-56/01, 26 September 2001).
Not surprisingly, it now appears that late September and October was, for US-based companies in particular, what one operator termed a "very worrying period". Over that time cancellations of pre-booked trips start to come in, and interest in new bookings dried up. As a result, several operators in the US decided to shed jobs in the face of what looked like a severe downturn in their businesses, although European and Australasian companies do not seem to have suffered to the same degree.
By early November, however, the situation had changed dramatically with many US firms reporting that interest in Antarctic tourism had picked up substantially, and staff had to be re-hired to deal with the surge in demand.
Many in the industry put that pattern down to travellers deciding, after a period of considerable thought, that they should try and return their lives to something approaching "normality". It appears that they decided to look about for holiday destinations that were "safe", and Antarctica appeared to them to fit that requirement well.
Despite the upturn, it was still not all plain sailing for those marketing the Antarctic product. Sales staff had to work through their client's concerns about the long distance flights involved in reaching, and returning from, Antarctic gateway ports. For those whose trips involved travelling through Argentina, the political and economic situation there, was sometimes an issue, although companies say that in practice no difficulties were encountered.
As in previous years, over 90 per cent of all tourists who have visited Antarctica in 2001-02 did so by travelling through Buenos Aires to Ushuaia at the southern tip of Argentina, and returning home via the same route (ANAN-51/06, 18 July 2001).
The number of tourists who made landings in the Antarctic Peninsula region during the recently completed 2001-02 austral summer fell for the second year in a row, according to data provided by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAAT0) at its annual meeting held earlier this month.
In releasing the data, IAATO expressed confidence that the figures it provided are an accurate reflection of activity about which it is aware. It warned, however, that it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain information or statistics on tourist operations that are conducted by operators who are allied to national program activity.
The majority of the 11,588 tourists IAATO estimates set foot on the continent in 2001-02 did so from tour ships or yachts, 159 flying in and out with air operator Adventure Network International. In addition, over 2,000 people experienced Antarctica from the air on overflights from Australia, and perhaps 1,000 or more on similar operations from Chile, although few details are known about most aspects of the latter operation (ANAN-39/05, 17 January 2001).
IAATO data suggest that around 11,100 tourists landed in the Antarctic Peninsula area in 2001-02, the lowest total since the 1998-99 season, although the pattern and concentration of landings has not yet been analysed. This compares with some 11,600 tourists who landed in 2000-01 and the 13,600 that are thought to have gone ashore during the record 1999-2000 'Millennium' season (ANAN-26/01, 19 July 2000).
Sea-based operations around the continent in 2001-02 reported by IAATO were very similar to those of 2000-01, and were close to the pre-season estimate published by ANAN (ANAN-58/01, 7 November 2001). In the circumstances, tour operators generally appear well pleased with the results they achieved (see ANAN-77/01 preceding).
The fall in overall visitor numbers appears to have been the direct result of the cancellation, due to a 'propeller problem', of two of the three voyages that had been scheduled for the German cruise vessel 'Vista Mar'.
During the last austral summer at least 18 tour ships about which IAATO has details (17 of which conducted landing operations) made a total of 114 voyages to Antarctic waters. Fifteen of the 18 vessels made a total of 108 voyages to the Antarctic Peninsula, while in the Ross Sea, two ships made five voyages between them, and another journeyed once to the coast of Adélie and George V Lands (ANAN-66/08, 13 February 2002).
As far as it is known, all yacht visits to the continent were made to the Peninsula region; 19 craft with around 148 passengers on 29 voyages being listed in IAATO documents for 2001-02. This compares with 14 yachts (128 passengers and 18 voyages) in 2000-01, and 17 yachts (237 passengers and 25 voyages) estimated for 1999-2000.
Other sea-based tourist operations in 2001-02 are believed to have been conducted by the Chilean Navy and the Chilean regional air line La linea aerea de la Patagonia (DAP) (ANAN-17/03, 15 March 2000), although no specific information of the numbers involved or where tourist visits were made, are available. The French-based company Polar Circle Expeditions flew seven tourists and seven Russian officials to the South Geographic Pole but ran into trouble with their aircraft which is still at the Pole (ANAN-66/02, 13 February 2002). In addition, plans for a South African company to fly tourists to Dronning Maud Land as part of a joint South African-Russian venture did not proceed (ANAN-64/06, 16 January 2002).
There was general agreement from both IAATO members and non-IAATO people at this year's IAATO meeting of the importance of accurate data on Antarctic tourist numbers and the areas they visit is to management of the region. It was emphasised, however, that the accuracy of the data, which are collected by IAATO member companies and collated by the US National Science Foundation (ANAN-23/02, 7 June 2000), is becoming compromised by the lack of comprehensive information about some tourist operations that are outside the auspices of IAATO.
Holland America Lines (HAL), the company that has operated two of its 1,000-passenger class vessels in Antarctic Peninsula waters in recent years and plans similar operations in 2002-03, was one of three Provisional members of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) to be elected to Full membership status at the tour body's annual meeting on 2 July. The decision makes US-based HAL the first operator of an IAATO Category 3 ship to become a Full member of the industry association (ANAN-51/02, 18 July 2001).
HAL was joined as a full member by two other companies: Norwegian Polar Star Expeditions, operator of the 98-passenger 'Polar Star' that operated in Antarctic waters for the first time in 2001-02 (ANAN-48/04, 6 June 2001); and Falkland Islands-based Golden Fleece Expeditions (GFE), operator of the 20-m steel schooner 'Golden Fleece' (ANAN-21/03, 10 May 2000). GFE, whose principals have operated in Antarctica for several decades (ANAN-4/04, 15 September 1999), is only the second yacht operator to become a full member of IAATO.
Crystal Cruise Lines which is currently preparing for the visit of its 940 passenger liner 'Crystal Symphony' to Antarctic Peninsula waters next February was elected as a Provisional member of IAATO (ANAN-73/03, 22 May 2002). The election of these four companies means that IAATO now has 20 Full members, 7 Provisional members and 23 Associate members.
The only significant ship-based tour operator that is still not a member of IAATO is US-based Orient Lines. The company, which carried more people to the continent by sea in 2002-03 than any other operator, is prevented from joining because its ship, the 'Marco Polo', often carries up to 550 passengers to the Peninsula region and conducts landings with them. IAATO member companies whose vessels carry more than 500 passengers (Category 3 members) are barred from making landings in Antarctica (ANAN-51/02, 18 July 2001).
Attempts were apparently made by IAATO during the year to encourage the company to reduce the number of passengers it carries to 500 or below, however, the company has not agreed and IAATO members have not been prepared to compromise either. The 50 people above the 500 limit that could be carried on each of the five voyages Orient Lines plans to make to the Antarctic Peninsula region in 2002-03, could provide revenue in excess of $US1m for the company (ANAN-63/01, 2 January 2002).
IAATO's thirteenth meeting was attended by close to 70 people from some 25 member-companies, based in a dozen nations, as well as several government personnel, tourism researchers and others with an interest in Antarctic tourism. The meeting convened over four days, three in the lecture hall of the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, UK, and one at the nearby headquarters of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), managers of the UK national Antarctic program.
The tour body's next annual meeting is to be held in Seattle in the north-western United States from 2-6 June 2003, while in 2004 members are to gather in Christchurch, New Zealand, possibly around mid-year.
Delegates to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators' (IAATO) annual meeting held earlier this month discussed the complexity of the proposed vessel schedules and possible vessel congestion in the Antarctic Peninsula in 2002-03, and agreed that they would, as in previous seasons, address the issue in detail well prior to the season getting under way in November.
IAATO's own internal figures, and data collated by ANAN from publicly available information, suggest that operators face a challenge in ensuring landing operations are appropriately separated next season, particularly during five distinct periods where up to a dozen ships could be present simultaneously in the Peninsula region (ANAN-75/02, 19 June 2002).
Initial information IAATO has received from its members apparently indicates that congestion will not be as marked as ANAN has suggested, nevertheless, the situation is still of concern to some operators. IAATO Executive Director, Denise Landau, advised, however, that the issue is 'not a new problem' and that IAATO members and company expedition leaders have, over the years, found ways of sorting schedules out.
With three-and-a-half months still to go before the 2002-03 tour ship season begins, much of the early ship scheduling information provided to IAATO by member companies has generally only contained basic day-to-day details of where vessels are likely to be.
More detailed information will be needed by those who will be planning the final schedules and itineraries for the coming season. As it is not practical for most firms to nominate the specific locations their ships will visit each day, ship operators agreed to indicate those sectors of the Peninsula their vessels will be located in during the days that they are in the Peninsula area. IAATO is currently considering a system to determine the coordinates of these nominated sectors.
While the collection of such information is expected to help operators and expedition leaders to manage their voyages better in relation to other ships, experienced leaders who were at IAATO's annual meeting stressed the need for operators to work closely together to avoid a landing conflict.
Operators were urged to provide up-to-date information of their plans to each other via radio or satellite means, particularly when bad weather or ice are affecting scheduled activities. In addition, the provision of accurate and up-to-date voyage plans to Argentina's Tourism Board of Terra Del Fuego in Ushuaia, is also considered to be important, even though not all ship voyages start or finish there.
Coordination of landing activities may acquire an additional degree of complexity in future years as IAATO develops landing guidelines for individual visitor sites in the Peninsula region (ANAN-51/03, 18 July 2001).
Policy and operational arrangements for visits to US and UK national program stations in coastal regions of Antarctica in the South American sector were discussed during the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) annual meeting in the UK earlier this month. US and UK officials have, for many years, limited the number of visits by tourist ships to their stations in order to minimise the impact on research and other activities.
Representatives of the US national program worked with tour operators to coordinate the 12 station landing visits that are normally made available at Palmer station on Anvers Island each season. In addition, five so-called 'off-shore' visits, where large cruise vessels anchor off Palmer and station staff go on board to give talks on their station and the US program in general, were also agreed to (ANAN-67/04, 27 February 2002).
Under new arrangements, IAATO Category 3 vessels, which carry more than 500 passengers and are not permitted by IAATO By Laws to make landings, will be limited to a maximum of two off-shore visits each to Palmer in a season. That maximum may be reduced, however, should such demand increase over the next few years.
All up, Palmer is to receive 17 visits by ships in 2002-03, four in December, seven in January (two 'off-shore'), and six in February (three 'off-shore'). The busiest period is around mid-February when five ships will anchor off the station over an 11-day period, although most of them are in the off-shore category. A 'wait list' of other visits by vessels was also established in case any of the approved operations are cancelled for any reason.
The UK national program policy also allows a limited number of visits to its Antarctic Treaty Area stations by IAATO-member vessels. Up to four visits can be made to the summer station Signy in the South Orkney Islands, and two to Rothera in the south-west of the Peninsula, while visits to Halley in the south-east of the Weddell Sea will be considered on a 'case-by-case' basis.
Requests for station visits by tour vessels to UK stations are to be coordinated by IAATO and forwarded to UK authorities for consideration by the end of this month
Fuel needed for intercontinental flights between Cape Town, South Africa, and Dronning Maud Land (DML) in 2002-03 was successfully delivered to Russia's Novolazarevskaya station by the 'Magdalena Oldendorff' prior to its besetment last month. As a result, plans for the flights, which are also expected to carry a number of tourists to the Novolazarevskaya area, are still on track according to South Africa's Transworld Travel, the company that is marketing the tourist venture (ANAN-61/01, 5 December 2001).
It appears that 3-4 flights to DML are likely to be scheduled for the coming season, although the dates will not be finalised until next month. How many of them are to carry tourists, the number of clients that could be involved, and what facilities are to be available to the visitors, are not yet clear, however, the nature of the operation suggests that upwards of 30-40 could in theory take part. Plans to set up and test a tent-based field camp for tourist operations near Novolazarevskaya earlier this year were not realised due to fuel supply difficulties (ANAN-64/06, 16 January 2002).
As has been widely reported in the main-stream media, national program vessels from Argentina and South Africa were dispatched to assist personnel on the German-owned 'Oldendorff'. The ship, which was under charter to the Russian national program when it became beset, was on its second voyage of the season to DML. Earlier, it had resupplied the Indian national program station Matri and changed-over wintering staff during operations there in January and February.
Several press reports in the UK suggested that there were "tourists" on board the 'Oldendorff' when she became beset, but ANAN has been unable to find any evidence to indicate that those reports are correct. The media reports may have originated from plans that the ship's operators had to carry tourists to DML on the vessel earlier in the 2002-03 season.
A year ago, two German companies, Brise Schiffahrt and the Gauss Institute, were hoping to carry up to 35 tourists on each of two, month-long, DML voyages from Cape Town, South Africa.
Those trips were to have occurred in December and March on either side of the Matri operation. At the time, these voyages were envisaged primarily as support operations for national program stations located along the coast of DML, with the tourists going "along for the ride", although a lecture program was also planned and helicopters may have flown the tourists from the ship if the opportunity had arisen. However, neither voyage eventuated, probably because national programs did not need, or could not afford, the extra support proposed.
Arrangements for Oldendorff's current resupply voyage were agreed to well after the other two German voyages appear to have been cancelled. The Oldendorff voyage was organised as a result of the Russian national program's flag ship, the 'Akademic Federov', developing serious mechanical problems before it could leave European waters to conduct operations at Mirny, Molodezhnaya and Novolazarevsksya stations.
US-based tour company Adventure Network International is also offering tourist flights to DML in 2002-03, although the opportunities that it is expected to offer visitors once 'on the ice' appear different in scope (ANAN-73/02, 22 May 2002) to those on offer by Transworld Travel.
A conference that aims to look at a range of South Georgia research and management issues in the decade ahead has been scheduled for next year. Titled "The future of South Georgia: a program for the next 10 years", the gathering is to be held in Cambridge in the U.K. from 18-20 September 2003.
Invited papers to be presented on days one and two of the meeting will focus on areas such as: research and management; marine resource management; heritage and information; tour ship and expeditions visits; and governance and finance. Working groups are expected to convene on day three to formulate strategies for each of the areas discussed. Poster papers will also be welcome.
The meeting is being organised by the South Georgia Association (SGA), a non-government group that was formed last December to encourage interest in the island and the conservation of its natural and cultural heritage (ANAN-59/06, 14 November 2001).
A notice of the exact venue, details of the program and costs is to be sent out later this year. Anyone wishing to register their interest in the meeting can e-mail either David Rootes (David.Rootes@polesapart.org) or Bob Burton (rwburton@ntlworld.com), who are joint organisers.
Australian company Peregrine Adventures is offering suitably experienced tourists the opportunity to spend 3-4 days on Wiencke Island off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula for "ski touring, mountaineering and snow-shoe" activities next austral summer. The summits of the Seven Sisters Range, including 1,450 m Mount Luigi, are mentioned as possible climbing targets, and the company's brochure says that "we're confident of summitting, weather and snow conditions permitting".
The proposed program has been advertised for four of the ten voyages that Peregine's vessel 'Akademic Ioffe' is to conduct in 2002-03, although at present only one field group looks like proceeding this coming austral summer. The programs could involve up to eight passengers, several guides, and an "experienced wilderness physician", being ashore at any one time.
Mountaineers landed from commercial, or privately operated yachts, have undertaken numerous multi-day climbing and ski touring operations from many locations along the western fringe of the Antarctic Peninsula in the past (ANAN-70/02, 10 April 2002). Peregrine's new program will, however, be the first of its kind, as tourist vessels have in the past only run such activities on a 'day visit', close-to-shore, basis.
Peregrine says that its field party will be "organised to be self-sufficient in all but extreme circumstances, and that contingency plans will be developed for the activity". Each land party will be expected to maintain regular contact with 'Akademic Ioffe' via satellite telephone whilst they are on the island, and a back-up high-frequency radio is also to be provided to the group. 'Ioffe' will conduct standard tourist landing operations within a days travel of Wiencke Island whilst the field group is on shore.
The tourists involved, who will pay a surcharge of $US990 to take part, are required to have "some well-practised, basic winter-mountaineering or back-country ski experience" before they will be accepted for the program.
The two guides, who are understood to have reconnoitred Wiencke Island during a stay in January 2001, are said to be certified members of the International Union of Alpine Mountain Guides. Both have had prior Antarctic experience, having worked in support of the national program operations of several countries "on a number of occasions". They are to assess the capabilities of applicants before voyages commence, and Peregine stresses that they have been given the task of preventing anyone taking part who does "not have the necessary skills".
Support for the operation on shore is to be provided from a tent-based camp that would be established from 'Ioffe' inland from the normal visitor landing site at Dorian Bay. According to Peregrine the camp is to be operated "beyond best practice principles for minimum impact camping", with rubbish generated by the group being returned to the ship at the end of each stay.
The company says that they can also "customise a longer climbing program" should clients wish; a comment that suggests stays on the island between voyages, rather than within them, may be possible in the future should the concept prove popular. For example, when 'Ioffe' is conducting back-to-back 10-day Peninsula cruises from Ushuaia, the time available on the island, or anywhere else accessible to the ship in the Peninsula region, could last from 10 to 14 days.
An environmental impact assessment for the climbing programs is to be submitted to Australian authorities later this year for evaluation.
COMING EVENTS RELEVANT TO NON-GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES
[ANAN-77/09]
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 2002
15-19 July (Shanghai, China)
COMNAP XIV (including the sub-committee on Tourism and Non-Government Operations).
Contact: jsayers@comnap.aq (Jack Sayers).
15-26 July (Shanghai, China).
XXVII SCAR (Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research).
10-20 September (Warsaw, Poland)
Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting XXV
YEAR 2003
4-11 January (South Geographic Pole)
High Plateau Marathon (ANAN-65/02, 30 January 2002).
Contact: general@adventure-network.com
3 March (King George Island, Antarctica)
Sixth Antarctic Marathon and Half Marathon (ANAN-68/09, 13 March 2002).
Contact: marathon@shore.net (Thom Gilligan).
2-6 June (Seattle, United States).
IAATO year 2003 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org (Denise Landau)(invitation required).
Sometime around mid-year[dates to be set] (Madrid, Spain)
Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting XXVI
18-20 September 2003 (Cambridge, U.K.)
Conference on the future of South Georgia (see ANAN-77/07 preceding).
24 November (Queen Mary and Dronning Maud Land regions).
Total solar eclipse (See ANAN-61/09, 5 December 2001).
YEAR 2004
Sometime around mid-year [Dates to be set] (Christchurch, New Zealand).
IAATO year 2004 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org (Denise Landau)(invitation required).
Next edition issued on Wednesday, 31 July 2002 @ 0600 UTC.
Deadline for items: Sunday, 28 July 2002 @ 2359 UTC.
ANTARCTIC NON-GOVERNMENT ACTIVITY NEWS (ANAN)
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.
Links provided in ANAN stories are working at the time of first publication.
AVAILABLE ON LINE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS A DAY:
ANAN archive (including this issue with its built in links):
http://www.antdiv.gov.au/goingsouth/tourism/News/default.asp
Coming events related to non-governmental activity:
http://www.antdiv.gov.au/goingsouth/tourism/Research/BibConf/Confer/default.asp
Links to tourist industry web sites:
http://www.antdiv.gov.au/goingsouth/tourism/Industry/default.asp
EDITOR: Dave Moser (David.Moser@aad.gov.au).
POSTAL: Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia 7050
TELEPHONE: +61-3-6232-3347 (2200-0600 UTC).
FACSIMILE: +61-3-6232-3357.
RESEARCH/WRITING: Martin Betts (Martin.Betts@aad.gov.au)
TELEPHONE/FACSIMILE: +61-3-6267-4790 (2200-1100 UTC).
FACSIMILE: +61-3-6232-3500.
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