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在南极建立可持续的旅游业 南极洲是最孤立的大陆，覆盖全球的底部,也俗称“南极”。它是最冷的,风力最大的、最高的和地球上最干旱的地方，没有居民永久居住在那里。因此,探索南极洲是一个挑战,因为寒冷的天气和美丽的风景与冰覆盖所有地区,当地有趣的动物和植物生存在这样的区域。前往南极洲是一种探险旅游,同时,这也可以教育旅游来自世界各地的科学家来研究生物和生态系统。前往南极洲是比较昂贵,但大多数的游客发现他们的经验超过他们的期望 (Lonely Planet, 2010). 本文还指出关于南极旅游业的负面影响,特别是来自人类活动对其保护环境和手段。不仅在南极,而且世界各地已经关注和表达了关于气候变化和全球变暖的消息。
Antarctica is the most isolated continent that covers the bottom of the globe; it is also commonly known as the "South Pole". It is the coldest, windiest, highest and driest place on Earth with no permanent inhabitants living there. Therefore, it is a challenge to explore Antarctica because of the coldest weather and beautiful scenery with ice covering all region, interesting local animals and plant survival in such area. Travel to Antarctica is one kind of adventure tourism and in the mean time, this can also be education tourism as scientists from all over the world come to study the organism and ecosystem. Antarctica is quite expensive to travel to but most of the visitors find that their experiences are exceed their expectations (Lonely Planet, 2010). This paper also points out about the negative impacts from tourism on Antarctic, especially from human activities toward its environment and means of protecting it. Not only in the Antarctic but also all over the world have concern been expressed about the climate change and global warming. Ozone depletion and melting glaciers are the serious environmental problems to this continent as well. We will see how tourism developments in the Antarctic happen and how to maintain sustainable tourism in this region. There are no restaurants, theaters or shopping malls, what attracts tourists to go there. All of the information above can be found in this paper.
时间轴的历史——Timeline History The ancient Greeks who first came up with the idea of this continent named Arktos have known about Antarctica since 350 B.C., but they never actually went there. In the year 1773, James Cook circumnavigated Antarctica that means he was the first person to cross the Antarctic circle. He made a comment: "I make bold to declare that the world will derive no benefit from it" (cool Antarctica, 2001). In 1820, the Antarctic continent was first seen by human eyes from three men whose separate voyages had been given credit that year. During the years 1840 to 1914 there were many historic trips from the travelers eager to explore the continent and many trips failed and tragedy happened such as a ship that sank and the crew perished because they couldn't stand with the extremely cold weather. The first airplane flight was made by Sir George Hubert Wilkins in the year 1928. December 1, 1959, the Antarctic Treaty was signed to establish the legal framework for the management of Antarctica. In 1991, twenty-four countries signed an agreement that barred exploration for oil or mineral deposit for 50 years (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1999).
Antarctica is centered on the geographical South Pole with 13.9 million square kilometers or approximately twice the size of Australia. For millions of years snow and ice have built up, making the continent entirely covered by an ice sheet comprises about 98% of Antarctica's surface which is about 95% of the world's fresh water reserves. The lowest temperatures can drop down as -89.6?°C. Antarctica is ranked as the fifth largest of the seven continents. The continent lacks an indigenous human population, but is home to millions of penguins, seabirds, seals, whales and temporary home to thousand of scientists and their support staff. The hallmark wildlife of Antarctica is penguins with seven species, only the male hatch single egg for nine weeks on their feet. Penguins feed heavily on fish, squid and crustaceans, its natural enemies are seals and killer whales. Watching flying seabirds is one of the popular activities for tourists while wandering on the cruise. The albatross is the largest flying sea bird with 4 meters wingspan. Other fascinating marine animals are Antarctic seals, using sonar for feeding, mainly on fish, squid and krill (a key species for Antarctic ecosystem). During the 19th and 20th centuries, seals were heavily hunted for their skins, fur and oil, driving them almost to extinction. Today, seals are protected by the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals, which allows a small quota for scientific examination. The biggest warm-blooded mammals on this continent are whales. They live their entire lives in the water and has a lifespan between 20 and 40 years up to 80. Antarctica has been declared an international whale sanctuary with whaling activities closely monitored by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) (Antarctic Connection, 2010). Many people may be confused and think that there are polar bears in Antarctica but it was wrong because polar bears only live in the North Pole. Because of the hostile climate, not many plants can grow well since only approximately 2% of Antarctica is ice-free. There are only two native plants that can grow - a grass and a cushion forming pearlwort (laws, 1989). Mosses, liverworts and lichens are the greatest interest to tourist for photography (Bauer, 2001) as they add some color to the region rather than white from the ice sheet. There are some measures to protect Antarctic wildlife and nature such as: Do not use aircraft, small boats to disturb wildlife, either sea or land and do not make any loud noise to frighten them. Do not feed, touch seals, penguins and birds or make anything to cause them to alter their behavior. Do not damage plants or bring non-native plants or animals into the Antarctic.
Antarctica can be referred to a "fragile" and "unknown" continent (Bauer, 2001). The Antarctic tourism industry began in the late 1950s when Chile and Argentina took more than 500 passengers to the South Shetland Islands. The world first expedition ship called "Lindblad Explorer" was designed in 1969 for carrying tourists to the Antarctic; this was in the period of modern cruise industry. Since then, the number of tourists has grown from a few hundred to more than 30,000 each year as shown in figure 1 below. Tourism continues to expand; WTO (2000) forecast estimated that about 1.56 billion tourists would arrive by the year 2020. Figure 1: The statistics of tourists to Antarctica by nationality in 2008-2009 (source: IAATO) Large scale and uncontrolled tourism can have a destructive impact on the continent's environment. Therefore, all of the shipping companies, travel agencies, yachts and air operations have become members of "International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators" or IAATO founded in 1991 to promote and practice safe and environmentally responsible action in the Antarctic (IAATO, n.d.). No visa is required for travelling to Antarctica, but travelers have to check with the tour operator in case they make stops at other countries. Travel insurance is highly recommended. Late October through early April is suitable time to travel because it is the ice recede period, days are long - up to 24 hours of daylight in December and January. The gateway ports to Antarctic region include Valparaiso, Chile; Ushuaia, Argentina and Invercargill / Bluff; New Zealand (Travel and Leisure, 2010). Antarctica is an almost completely inaccessible destination with no land connections or regular commercial flights. Therefore, the only way to experience Antarctica is by joining a program conducted by tour operators: cruises, yachts, over flights without landings. With the absence of a local Antarctic population, one interesting question is; "Who will benefit from Antarctic tourism activities?" In my opinion, the one who will get the benefit from Antarctic tourism is the tour operator in the term of economics but in the meantime, the tourist will also gain their truly spectacular experience where it cannot be bought.#p#分页标题#e# As mentioned in the introduction, travelling to Antarctica can be categorized as adventure and education tourism because of its geography surrounding natural laboratories for scientific research, which cannot be done anywhere else on Earth. The research involves government agencies, private industry, scientists and students from the university faculties. The most interesting research falls among the following subjects: geology, glaciology, oceanography, astronomy, meteorology, atmospheric sciences, biology and medical science (Antarctic Connection, 2010). Therefore, most of the tourists going to Antarctica are scientists and student groups to discover case studies and learn from real experience. What make people want to visit Antarctica once in a lifetime and what are the activities for the tourist while they are here will be described. People who love adventure, challenge and want to explore the extraordinary experience will plan their trip here. Gunn (1988) describes attraction as "on location places in regions that not only provide things for tourists to see and to do but also offer the magnetism for travel. The attractions is the most powerful component of supply side of tourism" Here are the lists of tourist attractions in Antarctica; Natural Attractions - tourist can watch a great natural view from the tall mountains, massive glaciers, ice shelves, huge floating icebergs, flora, seabird, seals and penguins. Scientific Research Stations - the popular stations for tourist are the Argentinean and Esperanza. Visits to scientific stations provide a chance to meet inhabitants who spent long periods of their time and have another opportunity to discuss and exchange their travel experience in this region. Historic Sites, Monuments and Huts - where the explorers left behind, the most frequently visited huts is the one built by Scott and Shackleton on Ross Island. One concern problem is that too many visitors may damage the sites, therefore the 33 historic huts and sites are managed by the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust and restrict for the maximum number of visitors inside the huts and to ensure that the number is not exceeded (Bauer, 2001). Whaling Station - Whaling has become unacceptable for conservationists and these mammals are nearly extinct, but stations such as Whalers Bay and Stromness are included in many cruise itineraries. Travelling to Antarctica is risk-taking; as a result, a professional tour operator that prepares all the necessary equipment and contingency plan is recommended. Before planning to go to Antarctica, the tourist should prepare and know their capabilities. Health check-up is essential, and thick clothes are very important to keep the body warm. Bear in mind that an accident can happen at any time. Respect the regulations strictly such as do not walk onto glaciers, where you can fall into hidden crevasses.
Many principal causes from the tourism can impact the ecosystem of Antarctica; for example pollution through sewage, fuels, oil, waste and noise from the transportation and human -- both tourists and scientists. Moreover, introduction of non-native soils, plants and animals, or even travel on foot and disturbance of local bird or seal breeding colonies also cause an impact. This is a very serious problem to the earth as it may destroy nature and accumulate into a big issue. Hence, it is one of the tour operator's responsibilities to explain, train and advise the tourists how they have to behave during the trip. The information must contain clear, useful information of do and don't in Antarctica with the reason at the end so that the tourist will understand what will affect the environment if they break the rules. Climate change involves human interventions such as the emissions of greenhouse gases; the experience from National Antarctic Programs over the two decades demonstrates that reducing greenhouse gas emissions from human activities in Antarctica can yield huge benefits to global environment. Also all economic activities such as fisheries should be managed in a preventive way. According to the research, during the years 2004-2005 approximately 50,000 tourists traveled to Antarctica, therefore the average of each person emission of CO2 was 4 tons during their stay, which usually lasted several months (Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, 2009). Glacier melt and ozone depletion are major problems to Antarctica as it affect the living creature. The main cause is from global warming that accelerate the melting of glaciers. Those effects include excessive flooding, rise in sea level and habitat loss (Buzzle, 2010). Chlorofluorocarbon or CFC's found in aerosol sprays, air conditioning systems and refrigerators is a major cause of the destruction of the ozone layer over Antarctica. There is an isolated region in the atmosphere which had a circular motion called polar vortex and researchers believe that the gases will float about 20-50 km above the ground towards Antarctica, thus, creating a big hole above (thinkquest, 2010). Moreover, poor visitors management can cause ecology damage such as stepping on the moss can affect its slow growing, disturbing wildlife can affect their behavior and their breeding, rubbish and waste from the ships and cruises can distort the balance of ecology. Even an accident such as oil spill and chemical leak can have a big impact, as it will take a long time to disappear from the sea surface (Gee, 2003). |
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