Transcript
From New Zealand you could go half way around the world for the price of a flight to Tuvalu.
After stopping in Fiji, you fly due north for three hours on a small turboprop plane and land on a sliver of land in the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean.
There may be two attempts if there's a dog on the runway.
The tarmac is also a sports pitch, a walking and jogging strip and children's playground.
But a tour operator Susana Taafaki says tourists do come from all over the world, some to visit historic Second World War sites and others who've heard about Tuvalu's fight against the impacts of climate change.
"That's one of the main things they do mention, that they heard about us sinking. That's another sort of promotion. Disappearing is not what I'm expecting but I think the tourists would like to learn more, see for themselves and find out for themselves."
The UN World Tourism Organisation reports just 2000 people visited Tuvalu in 2016.
Tuvalu's government now wants to develop a tourism policy that embraces the fight against climate change, getting tourists involved in protective planting for example.
Tourists on the main atoll Funafuti last week were few and far between.
Michael Sinzer sailed his boat there from Europe on his way to Fiji.
He had googled Tuvalu to see whether it was worth the stop and what he read piqued his interest.
Another tourist Susannah, from Eastern Europe, is adding Tuvalu to the list of off-the-beaten track destinations she's visited with her partner Alich
Philatelist Hugh Bennet from Scotland is in Tuvalu to see the country he's only known about from stamps.
After his visit Steve McKinlay still thinks the climate change crisis is a bunch of bunk.
He had come to visit the atoll of Nukufetau where his father helped build a three kilometre long runway during the second world war, using coral mined from the lagoon.
Meanwhile Michael Sinzer was excited about the diving in the Funafuti lagoon and maybe getting to a conservation area although the fee to get to the remoter part away from the bustling capital was off-putting.
Tuvalu's tourism minister [please add his name back here] Finikaso says expensive airfares, limited digital access and difficult entry to the lagoon for cruise ships are challenges for Tuvalu.
Mr Finikaso was hoping for assistance from other countries like Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand to develop a tourism policy.
