Guidelines in works for Antarctic tourism

As the number of Chinese tourists to Antarctica soared to the No 2 ranking, experts urged the country to speed up legislation on Antarctic travel to protect the environment there as well as tourists' safety and interests.

Last year, 5,286 Chinese tourists visited the frozen continent, amounting to 12 percent of worldwide visitors there, second only to the United States with 14,566 tourists, according to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators.

Fewer than 800 Chinese tourists made the trip in 2010, when China was ranked behind countries such as Australia, Canada and Germany in visitor numbers.