By Justin Bachman

(Bloomberg) — In January 1966, the primary ship carrying “citizen-explorers” arrived in Antarctica. At the time, solely a handful of leisure vacationers had ever thought of visiting the world’s most distant land mass.

“I was aware that the idea of setting up tours to that frozen continent would be tangled with complications,” wrote Swedish-American entrepreneur Lars-Eric Lindblad, who led that preliminary group of 57 onto the ice. “Going there might even be impossible.”

A half-century later, the near-impossible has develop into merely a problem. While the specter of its ice sheet melting away occupies climatologists, rich vacationers are scrambling to get there earlier than the occasion’s over. The variety of individuals touchdown on Antarctica is poised to surpass its annual file of 46,000, stimulated partly by new journey choices and a surge of Chinese adventurers. On common, about 35,000-40,000 individuals go to every summer season, which in Antarctica lasts from November to February. The peak got here within the 2007-08 season, earlier than the monetary disaster dented Antarctic tourism.

Americans lead the bottom-of-the-world tour commerce by a large measure, with about 12,300 visiting within the 2014-15 season. That’s thrice the variety of vacationers from Australia, who was adopted by guests from China, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Not surprisingly, the cruise business dominates journey to the continent, with most landings on the Antarctic Peninsula, a roughly 40-hour voyage from the southern tip of Argentina throughout the Drake Passage. And whereas a number of operators will fly you to the inside, and even over the continent—together with an Australian tour firm that provides a 12½-hour sightseeing flight aboard a chartered Boeing 747—greater than 90 p.c of holiday makers come aboard ships.

Much of the excitement on Antarctica is coming from the luxurious finish of the cruise enterprise, the place the upper ticket costs meld higher with the very-much-higher working prices in a distant polar area the place climate circumstances are harsh and unpredictable. An Antarctic cruise is at the least $10,000 and goes north from there, steeply, stated Bob Levinstein, chief govt of CruiseCompete.com, which helps join journey brokers with cruise customers.

Two luxurious strains, Silversea Cruises Ltd. and Carnival Corp.’s Seabourn model, have operated Antarctic expedition ships for a lot of seasons. Silversea plans so as to add a second cruise ship to its Antarctic itineraries subsequent yr, increasing to a dozen voyages from seven this yr. A less-expensive Seabourn itinerary begins at almost $16,000 per individual, whereas Silversea costs are barely larger. The most opulent suites can prime $40,000 per individual for voyages of three weeks and longer.

A 3rd, Scenic Tours, which makes a speciality of upscale European river boat journeys, is constructing a 228-passenger luxurious yacht to launch in August 2018, with Antarctica a key vacation spot. The Scenic Eclipse will carry two helicopters to fly visitors inland from the coast, plus a seven-seat submarine. Additionally, Norwegian tour operator Hurtigruten Group ASA plans to triple the variety of berths crusing in Antarctica this yr by including a second ship, the MS Midnatsol, to the area.

For vacationers with means, Antarctica has develop into the last word vacation spot, journey professionals say. No different spot holds the identical attract of geographical isolation, exoticism, and, naturally, bragging rights. What’s extra, many vacationers have been nearly in every single place else.

In latest years, the prosperous section of the market has migrated to “more bucket list, really off-the-beaten path, soft-adventure type of travel,” stated John Delaney, Seabourn’s, senior vp of worldwide advertising and marketing and gross sales. “Their priorities changed. People just feel that travel is a bigger priority now. It’s less about material goods and more about experiences.”

This development, nonetheless, might pose new threats to a continent designated a pure reserve “devoted to peace and science” and ruled by the 53 nations occasion to the 1959 Antarctic Treaty. Treaty nations regulate actions on the continent, together with tourism, whereas a separate U.S.-based group, the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IATTO), helps implement these guidelines by way of its member journey firms.

The group additionally collects knowledge on ships, guests, and the place they go. Officially, anybody visiting Antarctica is permitted to have “no more than a minor or transitory impact” on the setting. Industry insiders say the present laws suffice to guard Antarctica as a result of each firm is conscious of the continent’s distinctive and fragile nature.

“We don’t want to see casinos, we don’t want to see souvenir shops,” says Gordon Dirker, Hurtigruten’s North America managing director. “The whole thing you’ve got with Antarctica is the pristineness of the place. So if you want to destroy that, then you destroy the whole opportunity.”

Seabourn sees each sturdy demand and development for Antarctica, Delaney stated, however not a state of affairs the place better numbers means environmental degradation. “There may not be any other place in the world where there’s such broad consensus on it needs to be protected, and that means completely,” he stated.

Treaty nations must take a much less “reactive” method towards tourism on the continent and devise a complete plan for future development, stated Claire Christian, appearing govt director of the Antarctic & Southern Ocean Coalition, which represents 30 organizations centered on conservation within the area. Currently, nobody has good knowledge on what tourism means for wildlife there, nor a good suggestion of what number of people are too many, she stated.

“The governance system doesn’t really have an idea how [tourism] trends should look in 10, 20, 30 years,” Christian stated. “Antarctica is a special place, it is set aside, and we don’t want it to look like anywhere else.”

A brand new “polar code” adopted by the International Maritime Organization takes impact in January 2017, and a few polar tour consultants contend that the rule might additionally hinder some journey to the realm. The group is mandating stricter measures for vessels that function in polar areas, to incorporate extra thorough ship assessments and operational plans. Ships that function within the Arctic or Antarctic areas may even want a brand new “polar ship certificate” from the IMO.

As guests improve, their affect could also be confined geographically because of the restricted variety of locations ships can method safely. Current landings are extraordinarily concentrated: 77 p.c of all guests to the peninsula come ashore on about 494 acres, roughly one-sixth the dimensions of London’s Heathrow Airport, in keeping with a paper (pdf) revealed earlier this yr in Antarctic Science, co-authored by IATTO Executive Director Kim Crosbie and two different researchers. At a ceremony Friday, Queen Elizabeth II introduced Crosbie the Queen’s Polar Medal for her environmental work within the area.

Beyond the ship inspections, varied different guidelines are aimed toward defending Antarctica. Among them:• Ships that land guests on Antarctica should carry not more than 500 passengers.• No ships utilizing “heavy” diesel gasoline oil are allowed in space waters.• No meals will be introduced ashore.• No greater than 100 individuals could land at a given time.• Penguins and different wildlife get the proper of approach: Stay again.• No unmanned aerial car (UVA) flying.

The drone ban, imposed for the 2015-16 season, might be mentioned on the IATTO’s annual assembly subsequent month, stated Amanda Lynnes, a spokeswoman for the group, and a penguin ecologist, who carried out subject analysis in Antarctica throughout quite a few six-month stints. “We just didn’t know enough about their use,” she stated of the ban. “You might not want a little buzzy drone there while you’re having your [Antarctic] experience.”

Perhaps not, however drones may fly through the coming season, which begins in November. Some member firms report that vacationers need to use them to shoot “amazing footage,” on the ice, Lynnes stated.

© 2016 Bloomberg L.P