Written by Nicholas Roberts for the May 16 issue of The Sunday Times, and corresponding online release.

Link to the digital copy in The Sunday Times

Postcard from The Falklands: ‘We’ve visited beaches untouched for 40 years’

Cruise ships have been absent so locals have had the penguins, sea lions and rugged countryside all to themselves

Believe it or not, tourism is a significant part of most lives in the Falkland Islands, so last week’s announcement that the territory was on the UK’s green list has been welcomed. But a sense of uncertainty remains among residents and tourist businesses — not least because, since July 6, 2020, a mandatory 14-day isolation has been in place for those arriving on the twice-weekly direct “airbridge” flight from the UK. In 2019, around 9,000 visitors arrived from the UK by air or sea. And the two commercial air links to South America are suspended until October. The Falklands government still hasn’t told us whether we can expect the tourist season to begin in October as it usually would, but at this stage there seem to be more people calling for clarity than asking for the season to restart. And that’s with 75 per cent of the population having received at least one dose of the vaccine.

In a regular year the Falklands welcome cruise ships that can double the population for a day, filling the streets of the capital, Stanley. Restaurants are full, shops are busy and many residents give tours, taking visitors to places significant for their wildlife, history or Falklands culture. That might be the Falkland Islands museum in Stanley; Volunteer Point, a penguin-populated beach; or one of the settlements that demonstrate local farming methods. But in the past year those landmarks have instead been visited by Falklands residents, many of whom have never seen them before.

Normally we islanders would holiday in the UK or South America, but since we’ve been unable to travel during the pandemic, a government-subsidised domestic tourism programme has had us exploring our home instead. Adults have been given a £500 digital voucher — and £250 per child — to spend on hospitality, accommodation and experiences provided by registered businesses.

The residents of Stanley, where more than three quarters of the islands’ population live (myself included), are already lucky enough to be only a 15-minute drive from beaches where you can see gentoo and magellanic penguins, elephant seals and sea lions, dolphins and even whales. But over the past year we’ve been able to travel further, experiencing the islands as tourists for once. I was born here and I have been to parts I’ve never visited, getting the chance on Sea Lion Island to see orcas hunt, and to explore the rugged countryside of West Falkland.

We’ve also had access to beaches untouched for almost 40 years, because during the pandemic the last landmines left over from the conflict in 1982 have finally been cleared.

It helps that the Falkland Islands have had a painless Covid-19 experience compared with many other places. Among a resident population of about 3,000, plus roughly 1,500 British military personnel at the airbase, there have been only 63 cases of Covid-19 so far, all of which were identified among isolating arrivals. We had one lockdown last April, when 13 cases were identified, but after this it was 194 days before another case was detected. So over the past year, between trips out into the further reaches of the Falklands, we have been able to go to restaurants and pubs — socialising inside or out — watch films at the cinema and hug family and friends.

But all the while a sense of a disconnect from the events of the rest of the world has lingered. We had no requirement for masks, no curfew, and were only advised to limit ourselves to three-household bubbles for two months from mid-May 2020.

Now, as residents look forward to June 14, 2022, and the 40th anniversary of the liberation of the Falkland Islands, many hope to welcome veterans and other visitors for the celebrations. But whether the benefit of allowing a surge of visitors outweighs the risk of reducing restrictions and potentially exposing the community to Covid-19 remains a dilemma that has yet to be reckoned with.

Nicholas Roberts is deputy editor of Penguin News, the only newspaper produced in the Falkland Islands