- Title: Chile's remote Easter Island hopes to avoid mass tourism pitfalls
- Date: 1st November 2024
- Summary: SOUNDBITE (Spanish) RAPA NUI DIRECTOR OF TOURISM, UKO TONGARIKI TUKI, SAYING: "Today we are aiming to develop a more conscious tourism, more committed to protecting the resources. We want to somehow transmit that to the visitors we receive year after year that we want a more conscious tourism and especially of the environment" VARIOUS OF VISITORS WATCHING THE SUN SETTING B
- Embargoed: 15th November 2024 11:19
- Keywords: Chile Easter Island Rapa Nui Sustainability Tourism
- Location: EASTER ISLAND, CHILE
- City: EASTER ISLAND, CHILE
- Country: Chile
- Topics: Climate Adaptation and Solution,Climate Change,Environment,General News,South America / Central America
- Reuters ID: LVA005564829102024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: For tourists making the journey to remote Easter Island, over 2,000 miles from the coast of Chile, standing face-to-face with the island's moai - giant heads carved centuries ago by the island's inhabitants - can be a bucket-list event.
Tourists have been returning to the island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, since it reopened in 2022 after the pandemic forced it to close to tourists for two years.
For local authorities, the visitors are a welcome economic boost, but leaders are also weary of the threat of overtourism on the small island of about 164 square kilometers (63 square miles) in area.
A global post-pandemic travel boom has stretched communities thin as crowds overwhelm neighborhoods and remote workers make cities like Barcelona and Mexico City their home for a season, to the exasperation of local residents.
In Palma de Mallora, the largest of Spain's Balearic Islands, thousands of anti-tourism protesters demonstrated this summer against rising costs of living and strains on public services, which they blame on tourists.
Mayor of Rapa Nui Pedro Edmunds flouts a local law that bars visitors from staying more than thirty days, as a way to avoid the fortunes of a place like Mallorca.
(Production: Jorge Vega, Hugo Monnet, Herbert Villarraga, Anna Portella) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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