It was the summer of the city that was proudly called the “end of the world” and tourists flocked to see it like penguins thousands of miles.
On the afternoon of late January, five giant cruise ships were busy the docks in Ushuaia, Argentina, waiting to take deep passengers who had averaged between $15,000 and $18,000 for a single 10-day trip to Antarctica.
Ten years ago, around 35,500 Antarctic passengers departed from Ushuaia. About 111,500 people did it last year. As the season ends this year, the local Port Authority estimates numbers are 10% higher. Many tourists spend one or two nights in town before and after the cruise. Some tourists choose Airbnb on top of the room in one of the city's mostly humble hotels.
The tourism explosion has brought prosperity to the 83,000 residents of Ushuaia, narrowed between the Andes and the Beagle Channel. However, it taxes resources, increases living costs and contributes to the labor shortage of housing. Ushuaia's biggest selling point, remoteness, only exacerbates tension.
“We sell aura,” said Julio Lovece, president of Ushuaia Foundation XXI, advocating tourism developments that benefit the community. “Unlike other places where waterfalls, whales and glaciers could be sold, we are selling the end of the world.”
Cruising to “another planet”
Ushuaia, the southernmost city on Earth, serves as the main gateway to Antarctica. The cruise also departs from Chile, Australia and New Zealand, but explains why it accounts for 90% of the departures from Ushuaia, just 600 miles from the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula on Tierra del Fuego Island.
The desire to see the pristine landscapes of the age of global warming, rare animals and the vast amount of ice attracts tourists to the cruise. Gabriel Chocolon, co-founder of local agency Freestyle Adventure Travel, described his visit to Antarctica as “the closest to visiting another planet.”
Dallas traveler Ellie Wright, 28, had just returned from an Antarctic cruise and was wandering downtown Ushuaia souvenir shop, a hot item with penguin figurines. She spoke of the highlights. A cold-water coral reef rides on the seabed to a submarine, and a polar region where mink scooters emerge next to her as she is about to jump off the floating platform.
These types of extraordinary experiences have driven a surge in Antarctic tourism. Previously, it was closely followed in Australia's summer months from December to March, and is now a cruise season that began in September and continued into April. The port of Ushuaia has also grown. In 2023, more than 32,000 square feet were added to the dock. There are plans to further enhance the cruise ship's capacity.
According to the Tierra del Fuego Tourism Board, Ushuaia has around 6,200 beds for tourists on any night. About 40% for hotels and at least 30% for temporary rentals. Probably because not all rentals are registered with the Tourism Authority. Many downtown hotels feature Beagle Channel views, but accommodations tend to be rustic and reserved. There are plenty of budget accommodation options, including new Japanese-style capsule hotels. However, few tourists are found in town who want luxury accommodation. Three 5 star options are a natural resort far from the city centre.
Aiming to capture a portion of its high-end market, Melia Hotels announced in late December that it would build a $50 million luxury resort in Ushuaia, featuring a spa, indoor and outdoor pool and an 800-seat audit.
The current lack of high-end options has hampered efforts to convince cruise passengers to stick to explore the area, according to local tourism officials.
Clean the forests to build a house
Passengers who pay up to $18,000 for the average Antarctic cruise may be surprised to see how some local workers live. Nolly Ramos León, a 34-year-old single mother, spent years on the mountainside where people cleared the forests to build a shed. Nearby you can enjoy impressive views of the harbor and the gorgeous cruise ship.
There, her first home was a flimsy structure made of nylon and wood. The family's new home has better insulation to protect them from temperatures that are routinely plunging under freezing, but still doesn't lead to the power grid or water and sanitation services. Ramos Leon gets some of the family's water from a nearby stream.
She walks the stairs and dirt paths that are dangerous in the winter, reaching her housekeeper work in a hotel, where she earns around $500 a month and works more overtime.
Ramos Leon said that the residents of Ushuaia, built on the slopes of the mountain, “try to live with dignity.” At least 10% of Ushuaians live in these types of informal settlements, with little access to public services. “It took a long time to build this house,” Ramos Leon said. “I had it facing this house so we didn't even have the money to eat.”
Ushuaia's population has grown by 45% since 2010, with workers moving there in search of economic opportunities. However, it is difficult to absorb newcomers. Surrounded by mountains, national parks and water, Ushuaia had little room for developing housing or infrastructure. Building anything in such a remote area will have a large price tag.
Most Ushuaia renters spend around 80% of their income on housing. According to local housing advocacy group Que Nos Escuchen, a two-bedroom apartment averages P900,000 or around $1,000 at the official exchange rate. In 2023, rents in Ushuaia exceeded rents in Palermo, one of Buenos Aires' most prevalent regions.
“Looking at Patagonia is a dream.”
When Explorer Ferdinand Magellan passed the island in 1520, he saw a fire in an indigenous resident on the coast and named it Tierra del Fuego, Land of Fire. Today, many of the islands that divide Argentina and Chile remain in the wilderness.
Visitors to the island can see penguins and sea lions, hiking in the glaciers of Tierra del Fuego National Park and hitting the slopes of Cello Casta, which remain open longer than any other Argentine ski area.
Tierra del Fuego is one of many major tourist draws in Patagonia, usually including the giant Perito Moreno Glacier near El Calafate. Puerto Madeline, whale examination shelter. Bariloche's idyllic mountain town.
“Like many Argentina, seeing Paris is a dream. For many people around the world, I think it's a dream to see Patagonia today,” said Mariano Sanchez, tour guide for Tierra Turismo, a local agency that offers field trips in four-wheel drive trucks.
Last summer, nearly 640,000 tourist records visited parts of Argentina's Tierra del Fuego, far surpassing the 190,000 people living in the province.
Rush has restructured Silvana Ponce's business. Her tourism institution, Latitud Ushuaia, grew from six to 28 employees in the beginning of 2020. On the agency's signature tour, visitors will accompany local fishermen to catch and cook the spiny Centolla, the South King's crab.
A remote wonderland at risk
Like other resort towns that are limited by geography and struggle to balance housing and tourism, Ushuaia has few options that taste good for everyone. Proposals to expand city restrictions are bubbling, but many worry that they can do more harm than good. Some people within the tourism sector say putting the brakes on both the city and its industry's growth could be essential to maintaining the appeal of the region as a remote, natural wonderland.
“We believe we can receive more visitors, but we believe this is the right moment to think about how we don't lose control over that growth,” said Lovece of Ushuaia Foundation XXI.
Last year, President Javier Miley abolished one of the strictest things in the world, Argentina's rent control law. This has caused many residents to struggle even more with Tierra del Fuego, the state with the highest tenant-home ownership share, according to housing activists. To provide some relief, local governments have in recent years imposed a suspension on registration of new Airbnb rentals, but they have barely been able to crack down on the spread of unauthorized units.
In a statement, the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators, representing the private sector Antarctic Tourism Industry, said that most cruisers will remain in hotels rather than private rentals during their period in Ushuaia, citing “the commitment to cultivate a sustainable bank between tourism and community welfare in Ushuaia.”
Antarctica holidays also have a major impact on the environment. Each traveler accounts for approximately five tons of the carbon footprint per trip. For the average American, it's close to 16 tons. The Antarctic is warming at a faster pace than other parts of the world, and rising temperatures have already changed the landscape around Ushuaia. During the hotter than usual summer, popular ice and rock formations within Tierra del Fuego National Park have collapsed into smooth mountains this year.
According to IAATO, cruises will help raise awareness for the protection of Antarctica and turn paying customers into ambassadors. However, environmental activists say it's time to consider hard caps for the number of cruisers, or at least make some of the tourism of the continent.
Ushuaia housing activists worry about the future as it becomes more difficult to afford a home. “The moment will come when you become all Ushuaia tourists,” said Maria Elena Caire, president of Que Nos Escuchen Housing Group. “And who is going to serve them? Because the residents can't find a place to live.”
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