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The Documentary: AKA Mystery Island

Fishing in Inyueg Island

28/10/2017 GMT

AKA Mystery Island

BBC World Service - The Documentary, AKA Mystery Island

A tiny South Pacific island hosts 25,000 cruise ship tourists a month but at what cost?

But is this model of economic development sustainable - especially in fragile Mystery Island?

What is the fastest growing sector in tourism? It is cruise ship holidays, increasing exponentially and globally. Twenty-five million cruise vacations were taken this year and that will double very soon. International cruise lines want remote, pristine and idyllic places to satisfy the appetite of passengers to be somewhere beautiful, especially in the Pacific.

In a remote, tiny community in the southern tip of Vanuatu in the South-West Pacific, a village is earning more than ever through hosting gleaming white giant cruise ships that regularly appear over the horizon. Most months more than 25,000 visitors step ashore. The attraction is Inyeug, marketed to tourists as Mystery Island - a tiny offshore reef-ringed island, fringed by a beautiful beach and surrounded by sparkling clear turquoise shallow water.

Susie Emmett listens to villagers as they prepare souvenirs and village tours. She asks the captain of a cruise ship about the effects of the ships on the environment. And she joins tourists as they explore and meets the teams dealing with the debris after their departure.

(Photo: Locals hold up their catch from fishing in the island of Inyeug. Credit: Green Shoots)

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