A total of 128 landing sites were identified, clustered into five geographic areas, and found to differ widely in physical characteristics, level of use and ecological vulnerability. Trends in numbers of passenger, voyages, sites visited etc., over the past decade, were examined. Each voyage involves visits to several sites, to show tourists a range of environments and wildlife. Small vessels, carrying fewer passengers on shorter voyages, have recently come into vogue, each vessel making more voyages per season. Yet, as the number of landings per voyage has not decreased, a recent slight decrease in the annual number of passengers, has not resulted in a proportionate decrease in the number of landings per season.
Landing operations are generally competent, safe and environmentally sensitive.
Expedition leaders, who ultimately decide which sites are visited, vary widely in awareness of differences in site vulnerability, but are left to develop their own visitor management strategies at individual sites, based on personal perceptions. Thus, management of landing sites, insofar as it exists at all, is informal, and undertaken by individuals within the industry. Ecological studies of Cuverville Island are described and analysed. Visits were on the whole well managed, and team research under the author's field leadership revealed few measurable adverse effects on local breeding populations of wildlife. However, possibilities exist for long-term impacts arising from repeated use.