Antarctica is becoming a popular tourist destination and in the last decade, there has been a dramatic increase in visitors to the area. 1 tourists simply want to see the last unspoiled continent, but, others have more active pursuits such as adventure sports in mind. And of course, there are also those adventurous souls who want to follow 2 the footsteps of the great polar explorers. However, environmentalists are concerned that the booming tourist industry may 3 endangering the Antarctic environment and sowing the seeds of its own destruction. One of the problems facing the area is pollution resulting from tourism. Careless visitors throw rubbish into the sea, not realising 4 harmful this can be to wildlife. Another danger is oil spills. In the freezing waters, oil does 5 disperse effectively. Consequently, oil from even a small spill may remain a hazard to wildlife for many years. And this is a very real danger: some of the cruise ships visiting Antarctica have not been reinforced to 6 into account the dangers. A collision with an iceberg could cause a disaster of major proportions. This is 7 no means a far-fetched notion. From time to time icebergs do appear in these waters, and global warming means that massive chunks of ice are breaking 8 the continental ice sheet more and more frequently. If a ship collided with one of these, it could spell disaster for tourism.