Wednesday 13 January 2016

St Helena: How not to encourage tourism


Proposed new water tank outside Longwood House

St. Helena is pinning all its hopes on the expansion of tourism once the airport is up and running. The main tourist site on the island is Longwood House, where Napoleon spent the last 5 or so years of his life. So what better way to make the island aesthetically attractive to tourists than to site a large water tank just outside the gates of Longwood House, on a site formerly intended for parking the mini buses needed to take said tourists to visit the house.

Some years ago a distinguished visitor Jean-Paul Kauffmann correctly described the area around the Briars as an abandoned work site. I fear that the authorities on the island are prepared to let Longwood go the same way.

Apparently only the Governor can stop this from happening, and the precedents for so doing are not encouraging.

2 comments:

David S wilson said...

This is THE Prime tourist destination on St Helena and needs to be protected from unwise planning decisions. The surrounding area is equally important, and should be treated as a small but significant National Park, together with the breeding grounds of the Wirebird. How are they surviving, by the way?

John Tyrrell said...

As far as I know the wirebirds are surviving ok.

I thoroughly agree with you about protecting the area around Longwood. I think the National Trust are aware of its importance, and I understand that certain assurances have been now given regarding the water tank proposal, but we shall see,