The benefits of cruising to Antarctica
More travellers are choosing Antarctica as a holiday destination, which may provide benefits to Southland.
Heritage Expeditions will be launching five trips from Bluff to the Antarctic and subantarctic islands.
Heritage Expeditions' flagship, The Spirit of Enderby, leaves to visit The Snares, Auckland Island and Campbell Island during the course of a week.
Heritage Expeditions operations manager Nathan Russ said the subantarctic islands were a completely hidden gem as a tourist destination.
Uninhabited and undisturbed by traffic from shipping lanes, the islands are home to several rare wildlife species.
"I've been travelling down there since I was 9 years old. You go down to these places and you see people's lives change.
"They are unique – most people don't know what we've got down there."
Russ said while Heritage Expeditions was the only ones operating in the subantarctic islands, Antarctica itself received several different travellers.
The main bulk of tourist operations are based out of South America, while the rest travel around the Ross Sea, Russ said.
About four vessels were operating in the Ross Sea annually, taking about 500 tourists a year on average.
Russ said most of the clientele on the tours were from overseas, with about "12 to 13 different nationalities" present on the upcoming trip.
WIth Bluff being one of the main points of departure for tourists, it also holds the potential to attract new visitors to Southland as well.
While Antarctica as a tourist destination has been around for a while, Venture Southland tourism team leader Warrick Low said it was still very much an area of growth.
"Antarctica is one of those final bastions of travel for the adventurous.
"Fifteen to 20 years ago it was out of reach of the consumer but, with new technology, these places have become much more accessible.
"In the past, these kinds of holidays were considered a once-in-a-lifetime event, but now a lot of people are having major holidays all the time."
Low said one of the aims for groups such as Venture Southland was to make Southland a bigger part of those tourists' travel itinerary.
"We want to get the tourists who are coming here to spend more time in Invercargill both before and after their trip.
"If we can work together across the different sectors to tell a good story about what people can do in Southland, then you will get the economic benefits."
Low said it was important to incorporate attractions such as the subantarctic islands into the "Southland story".
"We have a unique access to these places in this part of the world – so it's about celebrating it and adding it to Southland's portfolio."
Would you ever cruise to Antartica?
Written by Tim Newman. First appeared on Stuff.co.nz.
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