(FORTUNE Magazine) – Bored with Amazon rain forests, Indonesian temples, and the Great Barrier Reef? Jaded travelers, take heart: Antarctica awaits. It's among the most chic destinations because getting there is expensive and hardly anyone goes. If the lure of the unexplored attracts you, better hurry. The number of visitors is suddenly multiplying -- and Antarctica faces a (hold your hat) pollution problem. The National Science Foundation expects 3,400 tourists to visit Antarctica this winter, up from 1,000 three years ago. Most come from the U.S., but a growing number of Europeans, Japanese, and South Americans are packing their parkas and heading south. For 15 years only two major U.S. tour companies voyaged to the icy continent, Lindblad Travel and Society Expeditions Cruises. Now five do. A new Canadian outfit, Adventure Network International, braves poor visibility to fly consummate thrill seekers all the way to the pole for a mere $28,500. Why the jump in bookings? Says George Papagapitos, president of Travel Dynamics, whose clients include members of the American Museum of Natural History and the Yale and Harvard alumni associations: ''There are no more places left on this earth that are unexplored.'' Publicity surrounding the ''ozone hole'' over Antarctica has also spurred interest in the area. The National Science Foundation worries that as tourism increases, so will pollution. So far some of the biggest polluters have been non-U.S. research crews who leave behind empty oil tanks and other refuse. Society Expeditions makes a point of stopping at King George Island, one of the most polluted spots in the Antarctic. Says Werner Zehnder, the company's vice president of planning and operations, who has been to the region 34 times: ''We want to show tourists that the flip side of Antarctica is not pristine.''