Assessing tourism patterns in the South Shetland Islands for the conservation of 19th-century archaeological sites in Antarctica

Although archaeological studies focusing on 19th-century sealing have been performed over the past 30 years, its history and sites have traditionally had low visibility in Antarctic narratives and the Antarctic Treaty System policymaking on heritage. Researchers face the challenge of increasing the visibility of sealers’ history and public awareness of the importance of conserving the oldest sites of Antarctica. In this paper, we propose that identifying patterns of tourism activity in the South Shetland Islands, specifically in their temporal and spatial dimensions, could help protect these sites and engage visitors with the early history of Antarctica. Data collected by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators were used to calculate landing point usage trends over time and the frequency of passenger landings from 2003–2004 to 2015–2016. We defined six different visitation patterns with temporal tendencies of passenger landings that varied from increasing, constant, or decreasing trends over time, differing in the magnitude and intensity of visitation. This information was used to assess the situation of particular sites located in the vicinity of tourism landing points. We set priorities for their conservation and management decisions and highlighted their relative potential to engage visitors with the stories of 19th-century sealing in Antarctica.