Yachties drop anchor in Vila Harbour and drive the tourism authorities crazy by enjoying the place for months while spending the absolute minimum. They also have to have the equivalent of an air ticket home held in trust at a local bank. There were two riding clubs, a couple of squash clubs, and four golf courses. This Vanuatu is grudgingly accepted by the Vanuatu people and government as a necessary condition of obtaining access to Western goods and services. The government has an intrusive bureaucracy set up to favour Melanesian citizens, and there is an undercurrent of resentment by the population at large.
Cyclones are normal weather during half the year.
Malaria and Dengue fever are deadly and commonplace. Serious medical emergencies must be evacuated on the next commercial flight to New Caledonia or Australia. The supply of consumer goods can be irregular. This is a Vanuatu of bygone times . These are the remnants of a large number of expatriate plantation owners and mangers, most of whom left voluntarily or were deported in the years following independence in 1980.