The most remote inhabited island in the world - Rapa Nui - reopened its doors to tourism on 8/4-22. The first commercial flight from Chile brought 258 travelers to the island, and the number of visitors is expected to slowly increase.
After 870 days, almost two and a half years, tourists have landed on Easter Island for the first time again. Holidaymakers but also locals and relatives of islanders reached the remote island in the South Pacific today on the first commercial flight from the Chilean capital Santiago de Chile since the start of the Corona pandemic in March 2020. The emotion was great!
In the coming weeks, there will be two flights per week (Thursdays and Saturdays), each carrying about 300 passengers from Santiago to Easter Island - equivalent to about 20% of capacity before the Corona pandemic began.
About 6,000 people live on Easter Island, which belongs to Chile. This is where our cosmetics brand Anakena was born. I (Petra Klimscha, founder of Anakena) lived on Rapa Nui for over 1.5 years of the closure period. It was a very special experience.
The island is most famous for its giant stone statues, the Moais. The economy depends almost 100% on tourism. Before the pandemic began, more than 150,000 vacationers came to Easter Island each year. However, mainly because of the limited medical capacity on site and the great distance to the Chilean mainland, which is about 3,500 kilometers away, the island had largely isolated itself with the occurrence of the first Corona Falls in Chile in March 2020.
The reopening and long period of reflection has given the Easter Island people a chance to reorient themselves from their strong connection with their island and culture, to the flow of visitors to the small, fragile island. With the island's economy now at rock bottom, the reopening was urgently needed.
