Tuvalu is really the leader in the least visited countries. Only about a thousand people a year come to this remote archipelago of nine islands, a two-hour flight from Fiji, 1,179 km away. There is little or no tourist infrastructure, credit cards or ATMs are not accepted anywhere. The paradise island of Tuvalu is located in Polynesia, north of Fiji and halfway between Australia and Hawaii.
Tuvalu has recently attracted attention due to climate change. The UN included the islands in a list of places that could completely disappear due to rising sea levels in the next century. Which gives potential visitors an even more compelling reason to book soon. Tuvalu is in danger of disappearing altogether.
Because the whole country is coral atolls, almost everything is only one or two meters above sea level. Tides have been rising by about 3.9 millimeters per year. It is quite possible that at some point in the future Tuvalu could be wiped off the map. Tuvalu, a collection of small islands between Fiji, Hawaii and Australia, usually has a very low number of thousands of visitors annually.
It is believed to be the least visited country in the world, and given how difficult it is to get there, it is not entirely surprising. Tuvalu is also one of the least populated countries in the world. According to a recent report, countries with fewer foreign visitors also have significant overlap with the list of countries with no reported cases of coronavirus. When I flew to Tuvalu I had to take money out of Fiji and then convert it into Australian dollars at Nadi airport, which was expensive to do.
There are plans to install a fiber-optic cable in Tuvalu, which would radically improve the lives of its citizens. Learn more about Tuvalu, the least visited country in the world, in this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Tucked away in the South Pacific, Tuvalu is a perfect collection of nine islands, located halfway between Hawaii and Australia. Once you visit the country, there is no car rental service, there is no ATM anywhere in the country, and the whole country does not accept credit cards.
For some places, the lack of visitors is due to recent tragic circumstances, such as the outbreak of war as seen in Yemen. Tuvalu was a base for allied forces to attack nearby Kiribati, occupied by the Japanese at the time. While Tuvalu makes quite a lot of money from the Internet, it doesn't mean that people in the country have a good internet connection. Australia and Fiji have offered to relocate Tuvalu's citizens, but the government says that would only be a last resort.
Tuvalu is located in the South Pacific, about 700 miles north of Fiji and about 7 degrees south of the equator. To top it off, Tuvalu uses the Australian dollar as its currency, but all its flights come from Fiji, which does not use the Australian dollar. Tuvalu's population today is only about 11,000 people, making it the second smallest country in the United Nations, with only a few hundred more people than Nauru. Tucked away in the South Pacific, Tuvalu is made up of three reef islands and six atolls, halfway between Hawaii and Australia.
