The wreck of the Titanic - the gold mine of the tourism industry
For decades, visitors have paid big for the chance to glimpse the wreck of the Titanic on the seabed off the island of Newfoundland, Canada.
It takes eight hours and $250,000 for visitors to see the remains of the famous Titanic shipwreck off the coast of St. John's, Newfoundlandm Island, Canada.
On the morning of June 18, five people (including three guests and two crew members) boarded the Titan submersible to make this journey. The ship lost contact after an hour and 45 minutes of diving during an eight-day expedition. Despite the dangers of traveling at a depth of nearly 4,000 meters (where the shipwreck is located), this is an "irresistible" opportunity because very few people get to see the Titanic with their own eyes.
The bow of the Titanic during the expedition in August 2019. Photo: Atlantic Productions
More than a century after the ship sank, interest in the Titanic has never waned. Most people satisfy their curiosity by visiting museums and exhibitions around the world about this ship. But not everyone has the opportunity to witness the Titanic with their own eyes.
The Titanic was wrecked in 1912. It wasn't until 1985 that American national geologist Robert Ballard and French oceanographer Jean-Louis Michel led an expedition to discover the final resting place of the child. ship. Soon after, Ballard testified before the US Congress and called on the government to recognize the wreck of the Titanic as a maritime memorial. In July 1986, Ballard put a sign on the ship, asking not to disturb the scene to show respect and remember the more than 1,500 victims of the shipwreck.
But this doesn't happen. Instead, the competition over who is allowed to salvage the artifacts from the ship heats up. This move is partly an attempt to preserve artifacts from the ship, but most of it is to profit from mining, auction, and display of antiquities.
While legal battles over the right to visit and salvage raged in court, expeditions to the wreck of the Titanic continued, creating a small but expensive tourist market.
Researchers, salvagers and filmmakers like James Cameron (director of the 1997 film Titanic) make many trips to the ship. Others are similar, just have a lot of money.
In 1998, British company Deep Ocean Expeditions was one of the first to sell tickets for $32,500 to see the rest of the ship. In 2012, expedition leader Rob McCallum said the company was organizing the last tour after descending to the wreck 197 times. These last trips in 2012 cost $59,000 per person, 12-day journeys and up to 20 guests per tour.
Inside the Titanic submersible during a tour of the wreck of the Titanic. Photo: OceanGate
In early 2002, Bluefish travel company based in Los Angeles, USA, also participated in the Titanic diving market. Over the next four years, they only accepted eight guests. Ten years later, they started selling tours again for nearly $60,000 per person.
Blue Marble, the London-based company, sold tickets for more than $100,000 per person in 2019. At the time, this was the highest ticket price to see the wreck. Then, Blue Marble teamed up with OceanGate Expeditions, the company of the Titan submersible that just crashed, to organize tours.
By 2021, OceanGate Expeditions will enter this lucrative market. They have two successful trips. The third flight was set to depart in 2023 and crashed. Previously, OceanGate Expeditions planned to conduct 18 diving trips this year.
Researchers have shown that the activities of visiting the wreck have had a bad effect on the Titanic. The ship was significantly damaged after colliding with the seabed, the iron rusted over the years. Less than a decade after the wreck was found, the ship's rapid deterioration was noticed. In 2019, a dive confirmed large parts of the ship were collapsing.
Today, the surrounding area is littered with trash, including beer and soft drink bottles, weights, chains and cargo nets from salvage efforts. In 2001, a couple even got married in a submersible located on the bow of the Titanic.
Even sight-seeing divers who do not intend to touch the wreck can still have an impact, damaging the ship. An expedition is said to have crashed into the Titanic and ignored information about the damage they had caused.
Since the shipwreck was in international waters, no country could claim jurisdiction over the Titanic. But in return, it qualifies for protection under the UNESCO Convention on "Protecting Underwater Cultural Heritage". More than 40 countries party to the UNESCO convention have the right to prohibit the destruction, looting, sale and distribution of items found on ships. In 2012, the wreck of the Titanic was declared a UNESCO Underwater Heritage Site.
UNESCO's then-director-general, Irina Bokova, said that the Titanic could now be safely protected and expressed concern about the damage and looting faced by countless ancient shipwrecks. Bokova calls the shipwrecks as archaeological sites of scientific and historical value. "They are memories of human tragedy, which should be treated with respect," the head of UNESCO said.