French Polynesia, New Caledonia told.

Robert Keith-Reid
The South Pacific's number two and three tourism destinations, French Polynesia and New Caledonia, are struggling to revitalise growth as Fiji, the number one destination, counts confidently on another record year.

French Polynesia's tourism minister, Jacqui Drollet, says the territory, supposedly one of the world's most alluring destinations, needs to adopt lessons from Fiji's success story.

A consultant hired by New Caledonia, where tourism has been practically stagnant for the last four years, says the best it can hope for is 180,000 visitors by 2015, way below the figure of more than a new record 500,000 Fiji expects to hit this year.

Such other destinations like the Cook Islands, Vanuatu and Samoa also report satisfactory growth for their tourism business as the two French territories wallow.

New Caledonia received 100,651 tourists last year, only 1.4% over the 2004 figure. Its industry has stagnated virtually since the mid-1990s.

For French Polynesia (Tahiti), the famous allure hasn't been working well at all. Visitor arrivals have hovered around 200,000-220,000 for several years. The latest available figures indicated that they fell slightly in 2004 and 2005.

French Polynesia's government wants to push the total up to at least 500,000 a year, which would rank tourism ahead of pearl exports measured by earnings.

Both countries are reorganising their national promotion and marketing offices. New Caledonia made a bad mistake four years ago by closing its national office, leaving three regional offices for the North, South and Loyalty Island provinces. These competed ineffectively between themselves and nobody benefitted.

Another bad mistake was the alienation of the Australian budget carrier Virgin Blue, which with its subsidiary services are delivering fresh business to Fiji, Vanuatu, the Cook Islands, Samoa and Tonga.

It has shelved New Caledonia indefinitely because, it says, the French territory's authorities wish to protect Air Caledonie International (Aircalin) by hitting the Australian airline with higher airport charges.

After nickel mining, tourism is New Caledonia's only other important foreign exchange earner.

In recent months, a national tourism office has been reopened and an intense sales drive started in Australia, one of its main source markets.

Business from Japan, formerly the main source market, has picked up slightly, thanks to extra flights by Aircalin. A tourism study by consultants KPMG commissioned by the territorial government says impediments to the growth of the industry are high airfares and New Caledonia's relatively high cost of living.

It recommends a more aggressive market approach in source markets and locally more investments in such niche activities as diving, eco-tourism trekking and golf. It said marketing should be aimed at the upper range of the clientele base due to New Caledonia's high costs.

The tale behind the flagging of French Polynesia's industry is more complex. It's latest worry is interference by the United States, which insists on transit visas for French travellers heading for the territory via Los Angeles and carrying passports issued after October 25, 2005.

It takes two or three months to get a visa. This problem, estimated by Air Tahiti Nui to be costing it 15% of its business from France, will continue until May when France will begin issuing electronic passports demanded by the Americans.

Political violence in Papeete late last year was another turn-off.

French Polynesia's heavy investment in running Air Tahiti Nui, which is losing money and not producing the numbers it had hoped for from flights to Paris, New York and Japan, is another worry that could become a crisis for it.

Last December, French Polynesia's two tourism agencies, GIE Tahiti Tourisme and Tahiti Manava Visitors Bureau, were merged by the government into one, Tahiti Tourisme.

Drollett said he wanted to exploit for French Polynesia lessons about tourism he learnt on a trip to Fiji, Hawaii and Australia.