Kiribati prepares for the millennium

Where do you fancy spending the Millennium, some where in the Pacific perhaps? London? Paris maybe? Poland perhaps...

Then Christmas is the place to be ...

Kiritimati Atoll in Kiribati that is.

The Kiribati Government is negotiating a deal with Aloha Airlines of Honolulu which will see a select band of tourists fly into the atoll on New Year’s Eve to spend the night there. A feast, traditional dancing and a church service to mark the first sun rise of the New Millennium ... and then back on the plane to Honolulu in time for another New Year’s Eve party.

“This is really our chance to lift Kiribati’s profile around the world, it is virtually unknown now,” Kiribati tourism

adviser Clive Abbott.

Arrangements are nearly complete for this unusual event to happen, here in the central Pacific nation of Kiribati which used to be divided by the International Dateline.

Back in 1994 “before anybody even thought millennium” said Abbott Kiribati moved the dateline so the nation could have one day. As a result Kiritimati atoll and an uninhabited Caroline Island are 14 hours ahead of Greenwich.

Caroline has now been changed to “Millennium Island”. As a matter of policy now Kiribati is reverting back to tourist use of the word Christmas too they realise the

sales potential.

In preparation a group of European news agencies, photographers and television crews will in June travel to Millennium in what amounts to something of an epic trip.

The actual celebrations on December 31 will revolve around Christmas Island. The villages, London, Paris and Poland, acquired their names back in the 1950 s when the atoll was used by the British for nuclear testing. Aloha will fly tourists down for the event which will see a church service as the new sun rises for the first time. They will then cross back over the dateline to be back in Honolulu on December 31, ready to do it again.

“Christmas Island is very important to Kiribati,” Abbott said.

Already cruise ships out of Honolulu

were regularly visiting it and neighbour

ing Fanning Island and Kiribati wanted to develop the fishing,bird watching and div ing potential of the place. It is also hoping that Japan will select it as a base for its space shuttle project. Wt