Tuvalu Solo Female Travel Safety Tips and Advice

On this page you will find first-hand, unbiased, and real safety tips, advice and reviews from women traveling solo, submitted directly from their personal experiences in the country.

Their opinions are unfiltered and submitted independently as part of the Solo Female Travel Safety Index, a ranking of 210 countries and regions based on how safe they are for women traveling solo.

The safety scores range from 1 to 4 with 1 being the safest and 4 being the most dangerous for solo female travelers.

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Tuvalu Country data

We have compiled a few data points below that can help you better understand Tuvalu and have more context when thinking about travel safety.

Official country name: Tuvalu.

Etymology: "Tuvalu" means "group of eight" or "eight standing together" referring to the country's eight traditionally inhabited islands.

Capital: Funafuti.

Independence / foundation: In the late 1700s and early 1800s, Tuvalu was visited by a series of American, British, Dutch, and Russian ships.

The islands were named the Ellice Islands in 1819. The UK declared a protectorate over the Ellice Islands in 1892 and merged it with the Micronesian Gilbert Islands. After the war, Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands was once again made the colony’s capital and the center of power was firmly in the Gilbert Islands.

Amid growing tensions with the Gilbertese, Tuvaluans voted to secede from the colony in 1974, were granted self-rule in 1975, and gained independence in 1978 as Tuvalu.

Population: 12,000.

Currency: Tuvaluan Dollar (TVD)
1 USD = 1.51 TVD
1 EUR = 1.65 TVD

Time zone: UTC+12

Languages spoken: Tuvaluan (official), English (official), Samoan, Kiribati (on the island of Nui).

Religions: Protestant 93% (Congregational Christian Church of Tuvalu 86%, Brethren 3%, Seventh Day Adventist 2%, Assemblies of God 1%), Baha'i 1%, Jehovah's Witness 1%, other 4%, none or refused <1%.

Climate: Tropical climate moderated by easterly trade winds from March to November, and by westerly gales and heavy rain from November to March.

Real GDP (ppp – purchasing power parity): $51.9 million.

Real GDP per capita (ppp): $4,600.

Main airports: Funafuti International Airport.

World heritage sites in Tuvalu

There are over 1,100 world heritage sites spread across more than 165 countries. New ones are added every year, and some may be removed from the list for various reasons.

Number of UNESCO listed sites: 0.

Top world heritage sites:

N/A

Interesting facts about Tuvalu

- There are no ATMs (cash machines) in Tuvalu and credit/debit card payments are also not accepted.

- Tuvalu is the second smallest country in the world in terms of population, closely following Nauru at just 11,000 citizens, and measures just 26 square kilometers, making it the fourth smallest in terms of size, after Monaco, Nauru and The Vatican. It is also the least visited country on the planet. It only receives around 2,000 tourists a year.

- Tuvalu has the smallest GDP at just over $40 million in 2018, that is less than any of the publicly traded companies in most European stock exchanges. Yet it runs on a budgetary surplus. The country’s main income sources are the the sale of stamps to philatelic collectors (they have some curious ones for sale too), fishing licenses and the income from the sale of copra. It also famously leased the country’s .tv domain to a Canadian company.

- Tuvaluis sinking, and it is thought the population will become the first climate-change refugees, having to flee Tuvalu because the rising sea levels will swallow the islands. Australia’s Prime Minister has offered full citizenship to Tuvaluans (and Nauruans and i-Kiribati) in exchange for fishing rights and Fiji has offered land to relocate the small population.

- Tuvalu receives two flights a week from Fiji into the one airstrip that was built during WWII by the American forces who conquered the island before the Japanese did and built an airstrip to be able to land military planes and other equipment. It opens twice a week to receive the flights and is otherwise used to sports as it takes up a significant part of the country's surface.

Further reading: https://www.onceinalifetimejourney.com/once-in-a-lifetime-journeys/pacific/tuvalu-travel-guide/

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Tuvalu Travel tips

More about Tuvalu on Solo Female Travelers

Coming soon.

Did you spot any errors? We do our best to keep this information updated and accurate, but things change. If you saw anything that is not right, let us know so we can fix it: [email protected].

About the Solo Female Travel Safety Index

Safety matters to solo female travelers, you told us so in our annual Solo Female Travel Survey, where year after year, women prove that this is their most important concern when traveling solo.

We wanted to do something about it, so we built these country-specific pages where you can find reviews and scores for 7 key variables affecting the safety of women traveling solo.

How to use the Safety Index

On this page, you will find the country score and the personal opinions on safety of other women traveling solo.

You can sort the comments by:

• The level of experience traveling solo of the reviewer (beginner = <5 trips solo, Intermediate = 5 to 10 trips solo, Experienced = >10 trips solo).
• The age of the traveler.
• Whether they are a visitor or local.
• The date they were posted.

The safety scores range from 1 to 4 with 1 being the safest and 4 being the most dangerous for solo female travelers. 

Thus, the lower the score, the safer the country.

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Looking for more safety resources?

This entire website is devoted to helping women travel solo. Check out the links below to learn more:

Solo Female Travel Stats: Results from the the largest, most comprehensive and only global research study on solo female travel trends, preferences and behaviors published.

Thanks to Jacobo Vilella for creating the Solo Female Travelers Safety Index ❤️