The 1.9 percent club

I read today that the Antarctic tourism season is drawing to a close for another year. The season typically runs from mid-October to early April. The last season, ending April 2024, saw a record number of visitors. 124,262 people visited the Antarctic, with 80,251 making at least one shore landing, albeit on an offshore island or the continent itself.

These stats made me curious about the year Garry and I visited the white continent. We flew to King George Island and cruised the Antarctic Peninsula in the Summer of 2010-11. Interestingly, the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) publishes a report at the end of every season. According to its report, the season we visited recorded 19,065 landings. Another 14,373 passengers cruised in the region without making landfall. Ten per cent of these travellers were Australians.

By the end of the 2010-11 season, it's estimated that around 450,000 tourists had landed in Antarctica since tourism started in the late 1960s. Including the season of our visit, only 304,811 tourists had done so since records began in 1992. Less than 7,000 were visiting annually before 1992, hence the lifetime figure of less than half a million. 

I was surprised to learn that only 531 people participated in air-cruise voyages including Garry and me. Only two vessels were supporting these visitors, Ocean Nova the ship we sailed on, and a smaller 12-passenger motor yacht. Apparently, the year before, only 345 people had arrived in Antarctica this way. As for our vessel, 501 passengers that sailed on her flew across the Drake Passage. This was the first year Antarctica 21, the company we cruised with, flew more than 500 people in a single season. It seems we were very much tourism pioneers.

As an aside, I’ve also read that in the years since our tour, only one other flight has been delayed three days like we were. If I understood the data correctly, this was the group that came after us as they were also delayed three days. Apparently, four flights have been delayed longer. Antarctica 21 has operated 310 flights up to April 2024. This means we were one of only six flights, or 1.9%, that experienced a significant delay. How lucky are we!