As appeared in
Backpacker South East Asia and
Ethical Tourism from 2 October 2017. Among many points I wanted to make, the most significant one is to go out just before Saint Helena Island's new regular air service begins on 14 October. As I re-tweeted to perhaps the island's best tourism advocates, who are entirely self-funded:.
"Ability of Saints to come; go and stay [financially] is just as important as tourist dollars". So far this has not been built in to air-fare pricing policies. Without it, eventually, it will fundamentally change the make-up, character and culture of the island, as the ratio of locals to outsiders shifts, exactly as we have seen wherever places rely mainly on tourism. (My most popular blog about Saint Helena is
here, and a summary of other postings
here.)
The rough amateurish sign read:
“The Middle of Somewhere”*
It was fixed haphazardly, not intended to last long. “Word-of-mouth”
would suffice instead. Backpackers would find it no problem. So they
did. Job done!
