The impacts of tourism

• Main Author: Downer, Kate
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: University of Canterbury 1999
• Subjects: Antarctic; Pillar; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/14067

The impacts of tourism within the Antarctic are currently a topic of discussion. With increasing visitor numbers, diversification of activities and increased technology, questions concerning the impacts of Antarctic tourism are becoming more prominent. The following is a review ofa sample of literature that is currently available upon this topic. It will identify key themes that have been identified throughout the literature, provide a critique on the consistency and inconsistencies that is present within this work and highlight the most up to date suggestions and thoughts upon the identification and future management of the impacts of tourism within the Antarctic. Although the author believes there are many aspects to the impacts of tourism within the Antarctic: environmental, scientific, social and political (Downer and others, 1999), the literature discussing the impacts of Antarctic tourism tends to focus upon the impacts upon the physical environment and scientific operations within the region. This reView focuses on the literature concerning tourism impacts upon the physical environment only. It Was not until the late seventies, initiated by the public outcry of tourists and the publicity campaigns of Éreen/peace, that considerations towards human activity and their impacts within the Antarctic environment were seriously reviewed and acted upon. Since this time the management of human activity and its resultant environmental impacts within the Antarctic has steadily grown as a focus to the point that "Environmental management is now a third pillar on which the Antarctic Treaty System rests, along-side peace and science." (Depaltment of Conservation, 1998). With the increased significance of environmental management, literature upon this subject has developed, reflecting the understandings and values of the time in which it was written. The impacts of tourism within the Antarctic are currently a topic of discussion. With increasing visitor numbers, diversification of activities and increased technology, ...