MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Sustainable Tourism Projected For Chile’s Easter Islands

Sixty thousand tourists visit Easter Island's archaeological

The impact of heavy tourist traffic on Easter Island - 3,500 kilometers from the Chilean coastline – prompted the EuroChile Business Foundation to introduce a new sustainability program aimed at alleviating the growing pressure on the island’s fragile ecosystem, while at the same time benefiting the local community and businesses.

Last Friday, as part of the “Integral Management of Tourist Destination Easter Island,” the EuroChile Business Foundation held a conference attended by Governor of Easter Island Carolina Hotu Hey, local, public, and private tourism businesses, and representatives from the European tourism industry.

Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, depends largely on the hoards of tourists who flock to visit its archaeological sites and monumental Polynesian statues each year. Figures from Chile’s National Tourism Service (Sernatur) show that tourism has increased dramatically over the past 20 years. In 1990, 4,961 tourists visited the island, while today the island receives an average of 60,000 visitors per year.

The idea behind the EuroChile project, which will officially be launched in the coming weeks and is financed by InnovaChile, is for the local tourism industry to manage tourism in a way that makes it competitive on an international level, is environmentally sustainable and involves the community. The project hopes to benefit 289 small tourism businesses on the Island.

Lieve Coppin, a tourism representative from Belgium, presented different schemes aimed to improve the local quality of life and strengthen community participation in sustainable tourism initiatives.

Spanish representative Reyes Avila said it was vital to produce specialized, high quality products with appropriate prices to make the most of the Island’s unique attributes and give something back to the locals.

The initiatives will be coordinated by the Easter Island Tourism Board, the Island’s Provincial Government and Municipality, The National Forestry Corporation (CONAF), Sernatur and the Tarai Henua program.

Easter Island’s ecological and patrimonial value was recognized in 1995 when it was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But although most of the Island is protected within the Easter Island National Park, preserving the environment will be a challenge in the face of increasing tourism.

UNESCO also launched a sustainable tourism program for Easter Island at the beginning of this month.

UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura said the project aims “to reduce the negative impact of tourism by finding a balance between the needs for the preservation of the site and the development of the island community.”

President Michelle Bachelet termed the program “a remarkable initiative intended to give the local community a leading role in the enhancement and promotion of their own heritage.” “A society capable of preserving its heritage is capable of preserving its history and its identity,” she said.

By Natalie Muller - Santiago Times