More people are choosing trips to Antarctica. These faraway trips are easier to book now. Rich travellers also want more unusual experiences. Travel companies are adding ships, but some experienced guides say the number of workers with enough experience is not growing fast enough.
About 8,000 tourists visited Antarctica in the early 1990s. About 122,000 visited in the 2023–24 travel season. An international group of Antarctic travel companies gives these figures. One forecast puts the number above 450,000 in the 2033–34 season, but only if growth continues at the same speed.
Lindblad Expeditions had two ships for trips to very cold parts of the world in 2019. It was building two more, and both now carry travellers. Viking has two ships for this kind of travel and has ordered another two. Companies ordered many of the ships before the Covid-19 pandemic.
