The mordant Irish joke in the financial community goes like this: What's the difference between Iceland and Ireland? Answer: One letter and six months.
So, what's the difference between Antarctica and Tahiti? Answer: Nothing at all, at least through the eyes of the travel business.
French Polynesia's hotel occupancy rates are down around 20 percent from a year ago. South Pacific Travel Blog reports that in January only about a third of rooms were occupied, and that Air Tahiti Nui is discontinuing service between Papeete and Sydney, because not enough people are turning up at the turnstiles.
Meanwhile, the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators predicts that the number of visitors to Antarctica may fall some seven thousand to around 39,000 in the 2008-09 summer season, and World Hum wonders if that might be a good thing.
Red Orbit points out that fewer than 1,000 a year visited until the early 1980s, but that number rose to a record 46,000 a year ago. Some would like to use this dip in visitor numbers to establish a cap, but Antarctica is not sovereign, so enforcement would be uncertain.
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