Chinese tourists will set out for the South Pole early next year on a 21-day expedition, setting foot on the white wastes of the Antarctic Peninsula that is usually reserved for scientists.

The trip will cost more than 80,000 yuan (10,000 U.S. dollars),making it the most expensive trip offered by a Guangdong travel agency.

According to Guangzhou Merchant Travel Agency, one of the trip's organizers, the team will set out on Feb. 7, 2007 from Guangzhou, and cross half of the globe to reach Ushuaia in Argentina, one of the world's southernmost cities. From there, they will take a ship through the Drake Passage and pass the South Shetland Islands, where they will see penguins, fur seals and elephant seals and finally arrive at the Antarctic Peninsula on Feb. 18.

Most of the 24 members of the tour group are business bosses including real estate developers. Insurance cover will be taken out to the tune of two million yuan (250,000 U.S. dollars), the newspaper reported.

The travelers need to take a physical examination before departure and will be eliminated if they do not pass the test.

Several previous trips to the South Pole failed -- a trip arranged in Shanghai collapsed because of a lack of applicants and a Beijing trip came to nothing because the group had no approval to visit Argentina.

Argentina will become a new approved destination for Chinese travel groups from January 1, 2007.

Editor: Donald