Easter Island is on the brink of economic collapse due to lack of tourism after nearly two years of shutdown due to the pandemic. Authorities have once again delayed the opening of the island to tourists due to a new COVID variant, Omicron.
Since the beginning of the Covid pandemic in March 2020, the island has not received foreign tourists to avoid infection. However, due to the absence of tourists for such a long time, the inhabitants of the island are on the verge of an economic collapse. Authorities point out that the Rapa Nui have even been forced to reinvent themselves and return to bartering to survive.
Residents expected the borders to open in February 2022 after voting last November. However, due to the rapid progress of the Omicron option, Easter Island has decided to delay the opening until further notice.
Petero Edmunds, the mayor of Easter Island, assured that he and the people of the island want to reopen to tourism after almost two years.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Chilean Tourist Companies (Fedetur) has asked the tribe to set a date for the opening of the borders. “There is nothing that could help them now, since there is no such economic activity that could withstand almost two years of inactivity,” the federation noted.
Before the pandemic, Easter Island hosted about 150,000 foreign tourists annually, and 90 percent of its population derived their income from the tourism sector. Thus, the consequences of the restriction of tourism activities have largely affected the inhabitants of the Chilean island, popular among tourists.