I refuse to feel guilty about visiting this pristine destination

March 14, 2026 — 5:00am

The cute penguin video had barely uploaded to my Instagram page before my phone hummed with indignant messages. “How could you go to Antarctica?” “That’s so irresponsible.” “Tourists shouldn’t be there.” Maybe it’s my fault for feeding the trolls, but detractors were very quick to tear down the wonder of my first visit to the White Continent.

I get it. We’re used to seeing behemoth cruise ships, some carrying up to 4000 people, towering over Mediterranean towns, flooding communities with cashed up blow-ins and putting a strain on local resources. When we imagine the pristine Antarctic landscape devoid of humans, it’s easy to feel outraged by the idea of tourists being unleashed on unsuspecting penguin colonies. But is the reality so black and white?

There’s no denying tourism has an impact on Antarctica. There are concerns about pollution from diesel engines and other waste entering the water, soil compaction caused by humans walking on land, and the increased risk of spreading of avian flu between colonies, which has been hopscotching between the Antarctic islands, leaving behind a trail of dead penguins, seals and seabirds.

A 2022 study by leading science journal Nature found black carbon pollution from tourism was darkening Antarctica’s snow, likely causing an additional 23mm snowmelt each summer. Despite this, researchers say Antarctic snow is still the cleanest on Earth, with 1000 times less black carbon compared to the Himalayas.

All of this leads to a Gordian knot of an ethical dilemma: If human presence inevitably impacts these fragile places, is closing them off the solution? Do we cancel safaris in Kenya because tourists blocked the Great Migration? End day trips on the Great Barrier Reef because of the risk of boats leaking diesel?

“Forbidding tourism might limit the impact of snowmelt, but it won’t stop the problem,” says Alix Varnajot, a postdoctoral researcher from Finland’s University of Oulu, who has studied the impact of polar tourism at both ends of the planet. “Even if we remove all human presence in Antarctica, this won’t change anything as long as the rest of the world is dependent on industries that contribute to global warming.”

More pragmatically, Varnajot adds humans will always want to travel to Antarctica, and it’s better to find a way to regulate the industry than let it flourish without oversight.

When less is more

While cruise ships in the rest of the world focus on bigger ships, more waterslides and more carnivalesque inclusions, the opposite is true in Antarctica. Regulations incentivise operators to carry fewer passengers rather than more (on average, fewer than 200 per ship). When ships do land (a misnomer as guests are ferried on tender boats) regulations limit how many people can be ashore at once, and gear is sanitised to minimise the spread of diseases. A lottery rotation system means two ships will never be in the same place together, helping to reduce the impact at each location.

Leading polar operators are now moving away from carbon offsetting their voyages, which has been criticised for allowing companies to hide behind greenwashing credentials, in favour of more direct solutions, like decarbonising and silencing their fleets. HX Expeditions launched the world’s first hybrid ships in 2019, has committed to introducing a completely emission-free ship in the next four years and last year unveiled silent electric boats that will minimise wildlife disturbance.

Ponant and Antarctica21 have followed suit with their own hybrid vessels, and Australian operator Aurora Expeditions is trialling biofuels to reduce its emissions.

While these are relatively recent innovations, tourism companies have been hosting scientists onboard since the late 1990s as part of a mutually beneficial exchange.

Researchers get transport and logistical support accessing the world’s largest natural laboratory, while passengers witness world-leading research in action, usually in the form of daily lectures and guided wildlife observations.

The White Continent is a barometer for the planet’s health and understanding it will be key to preparing for a warming planet. Researchers, the majority of whom come from the US, will be more reliant on these tourism partnerships since Donald Trump said he will dismantle one of the world’s leading Earth science research institutions and cut funding to US Antarctic research, with more cuts to come.

A cynic might say onboard research is simply science washing, a performance to help tourists feel they are mitigating the impact of their visit, but research connected to Antarctic tourism is informing real-world environmental policy.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) analyses atmospheric data captured by weather balloons released from tourist ships. In 2022, marine biologists aboard Viking Polaris found an extremely rare phantom jellyfish, yielding valuable insights into deep-water species. Phytoplankton samples gathered as part of a citizen science initiative provide a snapshot of how melting glacial water is affecting the Southern Ocean’s food web.

That exchange between formal science and citizen science is a crucial part of most Antarctic voyages, underscoring that these expeditions are more about education and discovery rather than cynically ticking a bucket list.

“A lot of people who travel to Antarctica are already quite environmentally conscious, and aware of the carbon footprint they have produced in taking that journey. They are looking for ways to give back, and education is part of that,” says Professor Elizabeth Leane from University of Tasmania, which has developed a short course in partnership with HX Expeditions to educate travellers about Antarctica before their voyage.

Changing hearts and minds

This isn’t to say the industry is perfect, and some fingers can (and should) be pointed at tourism. Older ships are still clanking up and down the Antarctic Peninsula.

Regulations can be flouted by tourists, like when a historic building on Deception Island was vandalised with graffiti.

Education and science are used to justify or mitigate some questionable activities.

Take Antarctica Flights’ 13-hour return flyovers to the White Continent, which are contracted to Qantas. Its 787 Dreamliners emit soot (black carbon) for limited scientific or educational value for those onboard. Antarctica Flights says it is committed to protecting the environment and donates to polar research.

Capitalising on the growing popularity of marathon running, athletes can pay more than $30,000 for a trip to Antarctica so they can say they’ve run on all seven continents.

Despite all of this, my biggest pet peeve is when people shame others for wanting to visit Antarctica. The inconvenient truth is that the real damage is being done by the stroke of a pen at the ballot box, and not by a boat full of tourists.

Looking past recent misleading headlines that Antarctic ice is growing, the White Continent is warming at almost twice the rate of the rest of the world. Burning fossil fuel is directly causing Antarctica’s surface to melt. In 2024, the Earth surpassed 1.5°C of warming, enough to destabilise climate systems like Antarctica, leading to a surge in droughts, floods, superstorms and other extreme weather worldwide. Insurers are already bracing for impact by increasing their premiums.

In the face of these headlines, world leaders are still refusing to engage with reality. In November, the Liberal Party formally abandoned net zero by 2050 in favour of more fossil fuels and carbon capture schemes. Donald Trump has gone a step further and withdrawn the US from the Paris Agreement (twice) and looks set to boost fossil fuel production after his incursion to Venezuela. Tech bros are pouring billions into water-guzzling AI data centres, with Sydney Water estimating AI could consume a quarter of the city’s current annual drinking water supply within a decade.

If tourists are inspired to become climate ambassadors while helping scientists measure how the world is changing, I think that is a net benefit and not something to be ashamed of.

As one scientist told me on a recent voyage, climate change feels vague and distant until people see its impact with their own eyes. That moment of awe, and sometimes devastation, sparks conversations back home, and hopefully a different decision at the ballot box.

The writer travelled as a guest of HX and Viking.
See travelhx.com; www.vikingcruises.com.au