How the coldest place on Earth became one of the world’s hottest vacation spots

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The surge in travel to Antarctica started well before the post-Covid travel boom.

The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) has been tracking the number of tourists to visit the white continent since the early 1990s. Back then, around 7,000 people would visit every year.

The numbers have really exploded in the past half decade or so. In the winter of 2017, just under 44,000 tourists visited Antarctica. This year, that number surpassed 122,000 visitors. And they’re coming in such numbers because travel to the Earth’s coldest continent has never been easier — or more luxurious.

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Today’s PM Plug-In was produced by CNN’s Grace Salley and Kimberly Richardson.