Throughout history, humans have been unable to resist the allure of Earth’s extremes: its tallest mountains, deepest oceans, and even the furthest reaches of its atmosphere.
As technology has evolved, a growing industry of extreme tourism has emerged to give people – particularly the rich – the chance to face death with a considerable safety net. For the right price, you can go up and down the nooks and crannies of the planet, briefly occupying spaces that only a small amount of people in history have ever been.
However, even the best and most expensive safety net can fail.
This week, the implosion of OceanGate’s Titan submarine killed all five of the vessel’s passengers, many of whom paid a whopping $250,000 for the chance to travel to the bottom of the ocean.
Around the world, on Mount Everest, where guided tours cost tens of thousands of dollars, 17 people died or are missing in what is probably the deadliest mountain station in recorded history. Last spring, five people, including 56-year-old Czech billionaire Petr Kellner, died in an accident while heliskiing in Alaska.
Undersea travel, high-altitude mountaineering and heliskiing have little in common, other than two facts: they are mainly practiced by the wealthy and have a very narrow margin of error.
When people have to save in some of the most unforgiving places in the world, bailout costs can add up quickly.
You can imagine that the prospect of an adventure with a higher-than-normal chance of death would be a big hit. But for many travelers, risk is precisely the point.
“Part of the appeal of Everest — and I think it’s the same for the Titanic, going into space or anything else — is the risk,” said Lukas Furtenbach, founder of mountaineering company Furtenbach Adventures.
“I think that while people are dying in these places, that’s part of why people want to go there,” said Furtenbach, whose company offers a $220,000 premium option to climb Mount Everest with unlimited oxygen. and personalized guidance.
After a particularly deadly season, says Furtenbach, demand for the following season is likely to pick up.
Everest permits increased significantly in the years after 1996, a season that killed 12 climbers and became the subject of international media attention, including Jon’s bestselling book, “Into Thin Air.”
“With every disaster season – I would say every three to five years on average – we can see a huge increase in permit issuance,” says Furtenbach. “If climbing Everest was 100% safe, I think that would be the end of the adventure.”
Likewise, it seems unlikely that this week’s tragedy in the North Atlantic will dampen demand for Titanic’s offshore rides. On the contrary, its global prominence may arouse interest.
Philippe Brown, founder of luxury travel company Brown and Hudson, said his company still has a long waiting list for Titanic tours, which it runs in partnership with OceanGate, the sub-operator behind Titan.
“We don’t feel any particular anxiety, nobody has canceled anything so far and requests for our services have increased,” Brown said. “We’ve seen a significant increase in orders” for subscriptions, which cost between $12,000 and $120,000 a year.
The search for the Titan submarine attracted international media attention, and with it, potential explorers were given a reminder to see the Titanic firsthand. Brown said travelers may be more interested now because they anticipate the incident will lead to more regulation and improved technology.
“Unfortunately, sometimes tragedies are the catalysts for progress,” he said.
Who pays the bill for a disaster?
Ethical debates between adventurers and scholars span decades over how, and even whether, rescue missions should be carried out for travelers.
When the Titan disappeared last Sunday (18), a massive search operation led by the United States Coast Guard with French and Canadian authorities was triggered.
US officials have not publicly commented on the cost of the five-day mission, although experts estimate the figure to be in the millions.
“When things go wrong for the traveler in places of so-called extreme tourism, the financial cost of rescue and repair often falls on emergency services or charities tasked with helping people,” said Philip Stone, director of the Institute for Dark Tourism, from the University of Central Lancashire.
In the case of significant rescue missions like the Titan submarine incident, “which will run into the millions of dollars,” taxpayers will end up footing the bill, he said.
“Governments have a job to protect lives, and despite the folly of some people diving to see the Titanic on an unregulated ship, those lives are worth saving,” added Stone.
In the US, neither the Coast Guard nor the National Park Service hold people ransom. However, some states like New Hampshire and Oregon will force state park rescuers to foot their own rescue bill, in part to discourage inexperienced tourists from venturing too far off the beaten path.
Part of the reason for this, according to a retired coast guard, is that in a life-or-death situation, concern about the potential cost of rescue should not influence anyone’s decision to call for help.
Should people be stopped from taking such an incredible risk if it raises the possibility of an expensive bailout? Victor Vescovo, a private equity investor and retired naval officer, doesn’t think so.
“Just because it’s expensive and out of reach for most people doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing,” said Vescovo, a leading underwater explorer who helped design and build submersibles. “I find it very difficult to judge people on how they spend money they may have worked their whole lives to accumulate and use as they see fit.”
Not all offshore exploration is dangerous, nor is there anything inherently wrong with wealthy people spending money on high-risk ventures, he said.
“Nobody talks about people spending thousands of dollars to go to amusement park destinations or other tourist spots,” Vescovo said. “This is just more extreme.”
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
