£5.65m Hotel That Stands Half Empty

Loss-maker on isle with worst airport

- Alan Selby

A luxury hotel on an island subsidised by UK taxpayers has received £5.65million in public cash as it stands half empty.

The Mantis St Helena has struggled to bring in guests since it opened in 2017 along with a £285million airport Britain helped fund.

The airport was dubbed “the world’s most useless” after it was constructed on St Helena, a tiny British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic.

Big planes could not use its windswept runway and those serving it from South Africa, 2,000 miles away, had to be near-empty to avoid crashes.

Now it has emerged the luxury hotel owned by the St Helena Government (SHG) is still struggling for guests.