Have you ever wondered what the least visited country in the world is? According to a 2017 report by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, the answer to that question is Tuvalu: a country made up of a chain of 3 islands and 6 atolls in the west-central Pacific Ocean.
One of the reasons this island nation receives so few tourists is because of how hard it is to get there. There is just one (very small) airport and only 4 flights land there per week. None of these flights depart from very populous places themselves, 3 of them fly out of Fiji and 1 flies out of Kiribati. All of these flights take 2-3 hours to reach Tuvalu. Additionally, other than the incredible natural beauty this country offers, there isn’t too much that would draw in tourists. There is only one official hotel, no souvenir shops, and no tour guides to show you around the country, which totals 10 square miles in size, making it the third smallest independent country in the world behind only Vatican City and Nauru.
Perhaps the coolest and most unique part of this country is the role the airport plays for a lot of the population. On the days where there are no flights in and out of Tuvalu the locals will turn the runway into a giant playground! Every day at sunset, many Tuvaluans will gather around the runway and set up all sorts of different games: football matches, Rugby matches, volleyball games, and plenty of others. Even if there aren’t many games going on, many locals will go to the runway and just sit down and socialize with others who have gathered there. As the day comes to an end, the party does not stop. It’s not uncommon to see people start setting up mattresses and lying down and falling asleep under the bright stars that Tuvalu gets to see due to the lack of light pollution there. As crazy as it sounds, the airport is truly the focal point of social life in Tuvalu.
But before you get to the island, there are a few unique Tuvaluan things you should know.
- There are exactly 0 ATMs in the entire country. Every payment is done strictly with cash, even in hotels. So before you decide on going make sure you stock up on some Australian dollars, since that is the local currency.
- Getting around the main island can actually be a blast! Most people use motorbikes to traverse from one end of the island to the other, and renting one is supposedly very straightforward. No one really wears a helmet, but that’s ok because Tuvaluans usually drive around quite leisurely and slowly. Doing this is great because it allows you to take in the ocean and palm trees on both sides of you since the atolls are often quite narrow.
- If you happen to be near the airport and you hear an air raid siren, that means a typhoon is imminent and you must get inside the airport and head down to the basement floor until further notice. Just kidding! All this air raid siren means is that one of the 4 weekly flights is landing soon, so don’t worry.
- Wifi is incrediblyyyyy slow, even on the main island. Don’t go here with the expectation that you’ll be able to successfully access the internet consistently.
If you’re thinking of visiting this country, do it! Tuvalu’s economy can be very volatile given that it is pretty dependent on fishing and crops (two weather- dependent factors), so it has to rely heavily on other countries to keep its economy relatively stable. Any income they can generate from tourism would go a long way to keeping their economy secure.