Chile's Easter Island has been drawing tourists to the southeastern Pacific for decades but lately, mass tourism and some bad behavior exhibited by visitors have threatened the destination's future.
Renowned for its massive centuries-old statues known as moai, the UNESCO World Heritage Site has come under threat of overtourism, with frequent flights to the island putting a strain on the local people and its resources. And some visitors to Rapa Nui National Park have compounded those issues.
"Because of the ubiquitous nature of photography in our community, people take the same picture repeatedly. Once one person picks a nose of the moai, you can be sure there will be multiple thousands [of photos], because people are lemmings," archaeologist Jo Anne Van Tilburg, director of the Rock Art Archive at the University of California, Los Angeles and the Director of the Easter Island Statue Project, told CNN Travel.
As recently as the 1980s, the park drew fewer than 5,000 travelers annually. Today, that figure exceeds 100,000.
The good news for globetrotters is that with three daily flights offered from Santiago, Easter Island has never been more accessible. However, that also means it's never been more important for travelers to be responsible.
You can still experience Easter Island the right way so long as you follow Van Tilburg's advice.
"Read and prepare. Once you show your guide you have a serious interest, they will take you seriously," the expert told CNN Travel. "Make your questions deserving of answers. There are 1,000 statues and there are 5,000 people. Their faces are just as important."
Recent restrictions mean that visitors must stick to a designated path and can only view a few of the statues. What's more, foreigners and Chileans who are not Rapa Nui can only acquire 30-day travel visas in the wake of limits introduced last year.
Responsible Travel recently found that 98 destinations in 63 countries, including Easter Island are suffering under the strains of overtourism. The company released a map to show just how widespread the threat has become.
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