The famous Easter Island in Chile opens for visitors after over two years of shutdown

After remaining shut down for more than two years, the very famous Easter Island in Chile has finally opened for travellers. On Thursday, the island welcomed its first group of visitors after closing its borders for over two years because of COVID-19 pandemic. Easter Island, spread across 3219 km, is noted for being home to over a thousand stone statues that were carved here centuries ago by the island’s inhabitants.

These giant head statues are globally famous and attract travellers from across the globe. Today, these statues are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Pedro Edmunds, the mayor of Easter Island, said, “(Easter Island) is the biggest open air museum in the world.”

He further said that it’s now the time to reopen the island after 868 days ago and the main focus is to keep the visitor safe. “We’ve learned what the pandemic is about and know how to take care of ourselves,” Edmunds said.

Only fully vaccinated visitors will be allowed to enter. Also a negative PCR test taken not older than 24 hours will be required before boarding a domestic flight to the island. International travellers will need to take a rapid antigen test once they arrive on the island.

More about Easter Island

The island is a special territory of Chile and most famous for its over a thousand monumental statues, which are known as
moai. These were made by the early Rapa Nui people and UNESCO named the island a heritage site in 1995. Easter Island is also among the world’s most remote inhabited islands and the nearest town to it Rikitea, on the island of Mangareva.