This assessment of recreation and tourism in the Southern Ocean starts with a demarcation of the northern boundary of the ocean; in the authors’ view it extends north to the southern coasts of South Africa, South America and Australia, and indeed, in the case of South Africa, even stretches north of 35°S. Rather than subdividing the Southern Ocean into “oceanic”; sectors, e.g., the Indian Ocean sector, the authors opt instead to deal with the topic in terms of three latitudinal zones: temperate, subantarctic and antarctic. They then discuss the role of tourism (generally in quite qualitative terms) in each of these zones. With regard to the antarctic zone, however, the discussion of the history of tourism, both shipborne and airborne, is quite detailed and supported by some quantitative data. It is stressed that tourism is still in an embryonic stage in Antarctica, but that one should not be in a hurry to force the pace since even at its present rudimentary level tourism has been having an adverse impact on the vulnerable ecosystems of the continent.