p Marco Polo circumnavigated the continent in a record time of twenty-two days, carrying four hundred tourists. This tour visited such places as Cape Adare and Cape Evans and McMurdo Station, showing the evidence of huts left by the early explorers. Along with site seeing, these tours offered informative lectures about the environment. As Hart states, this area is more for those who seek an informative vacation rather than relaxation and constant comfort (Oceanus, summer '88, p. 96).This expansion of Antarctic tourism has not been without disaster. In November of 1979, an Air New Zealand flight crashed into Mt. Erebus, killing 257 passengers. This huge tragedy ended such airborne tours of the continent (Oceanus, summer '88, p. 97).In order that the tourists "leave only footprints" (Oceanus, summer '88, p. 95) in an attempt to preserve Antarctica's natural environment, the visitors were, and still are, given guidelines that encouraged environmental consideration (Appendix 1).Today, the actual number of tourists that travel to Antarctica could be considered insignificant when compared to most other places in the world. The difference, however, is that other places have made a conscious decision to trade the possibilities of environmental damage in exchange for economic growth, with some sort of local authority assigned to making sure the environment is protected in some way. (Oceanus, summer '88, p. 93) The major concern with tourism in Antarctica is the fragility of the environment combined with the lack of local inhabitants, other than those transient inhabitants on the science stations, to take the advantage and benefits of tourism as well as to maintain the environment.Tourism in AntarcticaTourists to Antarctica are, according to Beck, fare-paying passengers aboard organised tours, private expedition members, or adventurers visiting the continent through privately organised travel with the majority being United States citizens (Beck, ...
