MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

South Georgia, during the 2024/25 season the island received 15.853 passengers

An expedition cruise ship at Grytviken (Photo by John Fowler)

The 2024/25 season in South Georgia saw 40 expedition cruise ships make 110 visits, and 7 yachts make 8 visits, with a total of 15,853 passengers, and including all staff and crew on both cruise ships and yachts there was an overall total of 30,037 visitors.

According to an official report from the Government of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, visits from tourism vessels spanned from September until the end of March. There were 5 new operators and 3 new vessels operating within the Overseas Territory.

Cruise Ship seasonal trends indicate that the season analyzed saw an increase in visit numbers and passenger numbers, with 10 more expedition cruise ship visits than the previous season, and over 1,000 more passengers. In fact cruise ship visitor numbers have been increasing steadily, with 5.831 in 2011/12 to 15.816 in 2024/25, with the exception of the pandemic years. Most of visitors arrived in vessels, with 1/199 pax, 83%; 200/499 pax, 16.5% but none with over 500 pax. As to the 65 different nationalities, the top five were USA, Australia, UK, Germany and China.

Regarding landing sites, after Grytviken, the most popular sites were St Andrews Bay, with 80 landings; Fortuna Bay with 58 landings, Gold Harbor with 48 landings, and Salisbury Plain with 42 landings.

Visits to Grytviken are mandatory, with vessels being required to visit to make customs declarations and complete mandatory biosecurity audits. During the Grytviken visits, the government officers ran through permit conditions with expedition leaders, and discussed any observations from other sites, e.g. whether sites appeared to have been impacted by HPAI or whether any landings had been aborted.

The Grytviken Church was open for all visitors throughout the season, with one wedding taking place and four services being held. Likewise the Main Store at Grytviken was opened part way through the season and access was offered to all expedition on cruises, subject to constant supervision by an expedition team member. The Post Office opened for all vessels throughout the season manned by two post officers and the government officers where necessary.

A total of 3,052 passengers were checked in the biosecurity audits at King Edward Cove with a mean pass rate of 97.5%. 97 identifiable risks were found; 18 from boots and 79 on clothing, backpacks and equipment. Vessels were subjected to a comprehensive audit on their first visit of the season, scoring over 95% meant they could have a basic audit during subsequent visits. Vessels scoring below 95% were required to go back to a comprehensive audit for the next visit. (Full details are available in the South Georgia Biosecurity annual review for 2024/25)

Finally, this was the second season that HPAI (avian flu) affected South Georgia. No sites were closed by GSGSSI this season, with the decision being down to expedition leaders as to whether it was possible to land following observations of the landing site. 19 landings were aborted due to being unable to maintain separate on from animals that were potentially HPAI positive.

The impulse for this coming season 2025/26 seems equally strong. The Annual Visitor report July 2024/June 2025 was prepared by Nadine Orme and Karen Wolstenholme, Officers from GSGSSI, working from King Edward Point.