Contrasting views on Antarctic tourism: 'last chance tourism' or 'ambassadorship' in the last of the wild

Our findings reveal that the spontaneous trust characterising ambassadorship is far removed from the perception of tour operators. While a trip to Antarctica modifies the opinions of tourists, such changes in perspective are not always favourable to ecological practices. The ambassadorship role played by tourists visiting Antarctica is unclear. This is an exploratory study that develops the debate on whether tourists should be ambassadors for the Antarctic and points to the need for self-regulation to improve stakeholder engagement in protecting the continent. We suggest that a combination of new agreements for the protection of the territory, better planning, the use of management tools, and an improvement in some educational aspects of tourism may help protect Antarctica.