Currently its minute, however uncontrolled tourism has the potential to ruin what was is a delicate and pristine environment.
Fortunately the numbers visiting Antarctica annually are small in comparison to other areas, plus there is a window of less than four months of every year when tourists can visit by plane or ship.
Latest figures that I’ve seen indicate that around 53,000 tourists visit Antarctica annually.
Those that visit by plane and helicopters are thought to cause black carbon pollution, and I have seen estimates that this results in the melting of some 75 tonnes of snow a year.
That’s a very small number when compared to the total tonnage in Antarctica, however it is a warning sign because the more Antarcticais populated then the likelihood of long term damage to Antarctica’ environment increases.
