Chinese tourists are paying £6,500 each to go on holiday to Antarctica because they’ve been everywhere else.

China, a signatory to the Antarctic Treaty is drawing up rules to regulate Chinese travel agencies who insist on taking visitors to the South Pole, to ensure the unique environment remains unharmed.

In June, polar scientists warned that a boom in tourism to Antarctica was putting pressure on the world’s last great wilderness and must be carefully managed, noting that tourism had quadrupled in the past eight years.