Antarctic cruise tourism: a taxing issue?

Abstract

Antarctic tourism numbers have expanded greatly over the last quarter century. With the additional interest generated by the recent International Polar Year, tourism numbers are expected to increase into the foreseeable future. At the same time, negative anthropogenic effects upon the silent continent are becoming more apparent. Tourism is one of the contributors to the human footprint in Antarctica, and its potential to exacerbate that footprint is compounded by the laissez-faire approach to tourism policy and limited tourism policy framework established by the continent’s decision-makers, the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties. This raises issues about what interventions may be undertaken to help reduce the burdens imposed on the Antarctic environment, a critical component of the global ecosystem. Because it is both practically unfeasible to ban Antarctic tourism, and would be extremely difficult to limit tourist numbers via extant Antarctic Treaty System regulations and measures, one possibility is to introduce an Antarctic tourism tax on commercial cruise operations. This article examines the idea of an Antarctic cruise tourism tax, why a tax has not been previously introduced, and the advantages and disadvantages of an Antarctic cruise tourism tax. The uses to which revenue generated through commercial cruise tourism could be put, including recovery of costs incurred through tourism and revenue generation for research and education about Antarctic tourism, are also considered.

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