Chile’s National Tourism Service (SERNATUR) is planning to stimulate tourism on the Easter Island, with work on the ground and the support of local organizations in both marketing and tourist services.
The matters were recently discussed at a meeting in Viña del Mar of the provincial governor of Easter Island, Marta Hotus, and regional director of SERNATUR, Claudia Araos, where they agreed to launch a project to enhance the presence of SERNATUR in the island territory.
The director of SERNATUR, Valparaiso, said: "Easter Island is our gateway to international tourism and, regardless of whether the island is already established as a destination or not, we must work together with the public services in the island territory. Governance is one of the main ways to facilitate that."
For her part, Governor Marta Hotus, said: "At this meeting, we agreed on actions that will allow us to increase SENATUR’s presence on the island in the future, through a project that will provide us with adequate infrastructure and that will also involve visitor services. In the execution of this initiative we will have the support of the government. "
The governor also stressed the importance of tourism in the island territory. "We want to strengthen SERNATUR’s provincial office in Easter Island; we have taken a decision to renovate existing agencies and to keep on boosting tourism on the island. The regional director has seen on the ground the activities undertaken with key partners such as the Chamber of Tourism, which has set out to market the island and the country. This meeting focused on further strengthening these activities in the coming months and years, because tourism is one of the most important activities in Rapa Nui."
The project to improve the SERNATUR office on Easter Island is in the design stage and includes improvement of the façade, entrances and gardens, as well as installation of signage – all with a view to delivering better service to the thousands of visitors to Easter Island.