Summer Cash. "Life on the Ice" by Roff Smith. [review]

• Main Author: Wheeler, Tony
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Australian Book Review 2002
• Subjects: Australian; Book Reviews; Publishing; Australian Standard Research Classification > 420200 Literature Studies > 420202 Australian and New Zealand; Antarctic; New Zealand; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2328/1461

The collapse of the Soviet Union had one quite unexpected effect on world tourism - it opened up Antarctica. Cash-strapped, post-Communist Russia could no longer afford its large collection of Antarctic bases, or the fleet of polar-equipped vessels that supplied them. Many of these ships are now chartered out to adventure travel companies. As a result, the opportunities to visit Antarctica have increased dramatically, while the cost of getting down to the ice has dropped steeply. The Antarctic visitor total is now around 15,000 tourists a year, quite apart from the personnel travelling south to the forty-odd scientific bases. Australia Council, La Trobe University, National Library of Australia, Holding Redlich, Arts Victoria