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CHILE-ENVIRONMENT-EASTERISLAND-TOURISM
Chile to restrict tourists and non-locals on Easter Island
SANTIAGO, July 30, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Easter Island is known for its unique
Moai monumental statues carved by the Rapa Nui people, believed to have
arrived on the remote landmass in the southeastern Pacific Ocean in around
the 12th century.
Despite its isolated location some 3,500 kilometers (2,000 miles) from the
coast of Chile, the island is a popular tourist destination, not least due to
its remarkable collection of around 900 tall human figures with distinctive
features and standing up to 10 meters (32 feet) tall.
However, it is those very tourists, alongside mainland migrants, who have
become a threat to the island’s well-being. Chile, which annexed the
territory in 1888, has decided to act.
In 2007, Easter Island was designated a special territory while back in
March, congress voted to limit the number of tourists and foreign or mainland
residents allowed on the island, and the time they’re allowed to stay.
As of Wednesday, new rules will come into effect that reduce the time
tourists — Chileans not part of the Rapa Nui people and foreigners — can
stay on the island from 90 to 30 days.
“Foreigners are already taking over the island,” Mayor Pedro Edmunds told
AFP.
At the last census in 2017, there were 7,750 people living on Easter
Island, almost double the population of a few decades ago, before the island
was hit by a tourism boom and the real estate development that accompanied
it.
Edmunds says that number is 3,000 “too many.” “They’re damaging the local
idiosyncrasy, the thousand-year culture is changing and not for the good,” he
added, saying that “customs from the continent” were infiltrating the island
and “that’s not positive.”
Crime and domestic violence figures are also rising.
It’s not just obnoxious people from the mainland causing problems, though –
– the increase in tourism is harming the environment.
All basic services are straining under the pressure, not least waste
management, Ana Maria Gutierrez, the local government’s environmental adviser
told AFP.
A decade ago the island generated 1.4 metric tons (1.5 US tons) of waste
per year per inhabitant, but that figure has almost doubled to 2.5 tons
today, with a population that recycles very little.
“Environmentally the island is very fragile,” said Gutierrez.
The new laws, however, impose stricter rules on those who wish to live on
the island, amongst them a requirement to be related to someone from the Rapa
Nui people: either a parent, partner or child.
Others who will be allowed to stay are public servants, employees of
organizations that provide services to the government, and those who develop
an independent economic activity alongside their families.
On arrival, tourists must present their hotel reservation or an invitation
from a resident.
The rules will also establish a yet-to-be-decided maximum capacity.
But Edmunds isn’t happy, as he feels the rules don’t go far enough to
protect the island’s culture, heritage and singularity.
“I don’t agree with these rules, it’s not enough because it doesn’t reflect
all the aspirations of the island,” he said, admitting that like “many other
Rapa Nui” he favors a “total” ban on the arrival of new residents.
However, he said the legislation was at least “a good start.”
Rapa Nui are a Polynesian people closely related to those on Tahiti,
whereas the majority of Chileans have European ancestry, with a minority of
indigenous peoples.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0846 hrs