Early next year Chinese tourists will depart for the South Pole on a 21-day expedition which will result in them walking on the huge white expanses of the Antarctic Peninsula that is usually reserved for scientific researchers. This holiday of a lifetime costs over 80,000 yuan (US$10,000) making it one of the most expensive trips ever marketed by a Guangdong travel firm.

According to Guangzhou Merchant Travel Agency, one of the organizers, the travelers will depart on February 7 from Guangzhou and cross half the globe to reach Ushuaia in Argentina which is one of the world's southernmost cities. From there they'll take a ship through the Drake Passage and pass the South Shetland Islands where they'll be able to spot penguins and fur and elephant seals. They'll finally arrive at the Antarctic Peninsula on February 18.

Most of the 24-member tour group signed-up for the holiday are senior business figures including real estate developers. Insurance cover for them will be taken out to the tune of two million yuan (US$250,000).

The travelers require a full physical examination before departure and if they're not fit enough there's no holiday to the South Pole for them.

Several previously planned but unrelated tours to the South Pole failed -- a trip arranged in Shanghai collapsed because of a lack of interest and a Beijing expedition came to nothing because the group involved had no approval to travel in Argentina.

The south American country itself will become an approved destination for Chinese travel groups from January 1, 2007.

(Xinhua News Agency October 27, 2006)