How long will the 'end of the world' stay wild?

Crowds of tourists bound for Antarctica have brought prosperity to Argentina's southernmost city, but the boom is also squeezing locals and stressing the environment

- LAUTARO GRINSPAN

It was summer in the city that proudly calls itself the "end of the world," and the tourists were flocking like the penguins they had traveled thousands of miles to see. On a January afternoon, five hulking cruise ships crowded the docks in Ushuaia, Argentina, waiting to take deep-pocketed passengers who had paid $2,000 to $18,000 each, on average, for once-in-a-lifetime 10-day trips to Antarctica.

A decade ago, about 35,500 Antarctic passengers set out from Ushuaia. Last year, about 111,500 did. This year, as the season draws to an end, the local port authority estimates that the number will be 20% higher. Many tourists will spend a night or two in town before or after a cruise, some choosing an Airbnb room at one of the city's mostly humble hotels.

The explosion in tourism is bringing prosperity for the 83,000 residents of Ushuaia, which is squeezed between the Andes and the Beagle Channel. But it's taxing resources, raising the cost of living and contributing to a housing shortage for workers. The remoteness, Ushuaia's biggest selling point, only worsens the strain.

"We sell an aura," said Julio Lovece, president of the Ushuaia Foundation XXI, which advocates tourism development that benefits the local community. "Like other places that maybe sell waterfalls, or whales, or glaciers, we sell the end of the world."

Ushuaia, the southernmost city on earth, serves as the main gateway to the Antarctic. Although cruises also leave from Chile, Australia and New Zealand, Ushuaia's location, only about 600 miles from the tip of Antarctic Peninsula on the island of Tierra del Fuego, explains why it accounts for 90% of departures.

The desire to see unspoiled landscapes, unusual animals and vast amounts of ice in an age of global warming draws tourists to the cruises. Gabriel León, a co-founder of the local agency Style Adventure Travel, described visiting Antarctica as "the closest you can get to visiting another planet."