China regulates tourism to the south pole

China has announced Friday measures to protect the fragile ecology of the Antarctic from tourists.

Tourists who go to Antarctica have to take all their waste back with them or have them burned in designated places. Anyone who breaks the rules must bear the costs for the restoration of the damage to the area.

The number of Chinese people who book a trip to the ice-cold south has risen in recent years. In 2005 only a few hundred Chinese went to the South Pole, last year there were already 5300. With this, Chinese people are the most important source of tourism income for Antarctica after the United States.

The Chinese visit the Great Wall research center at the South Pole. The Chinese center is one of sixty pole stations in the area, which are of thirty different countries.