Travel and Tourism - French Guiana

Euromonitor International's Travel And Tourism in French Guiana report offers a comprehensive guide to the market at a national level. It looks at travel accommodation, transportation, car rental, tourist attractions and retail travel. It identifies the leading companies and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market, including background information on tourism inflows, disposable income, annual leave and holiday taking habits.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - Publication date: Apr-10

French Guiana remains an overseas operational department of France
The most important factor to remember in any analysis of French Guiana’s travel and tourism market is the island’s status as an operational overseas department of France. This means that all laws, taxes and business functions on the island are the same as in any other region of France. Although French Guiana has had its own governing council since 1982, it still remains a part of France. French visitors accounted for almost 87% of tourist arrivals in 2007. In the same year, roughly 1,000 people were employed in travel and tourism, which represented 3% of French Guiana’s GDP.

3.4 million hectare Amazonian National Park opens in 2007
On February 28, 2007, the Parc Amazonien de Guyane (Amazonian National Park) was opened in the south of French Guiana after a 15-year development project. The project’s main objectives are to protect ecosystems, promote biodiversity and respect the traditions and cultures of indigenous residents in a framework of sustainable development. The park covers 3.4 million hectares, representing almost 40% of French Guiana’s total surface area, and is home to around 7,000 people from five different communities. The website www.parc-guyane.gf features a very interesting 25-minute documentary video explaining the aims of the park and showcasing its attractions. Unfortunately, this video was only available in French at the end of 2007.

Parc Amazonien de Guyane is expected to be a great economic boon for French Guiana, as it will promote the local agriculture, handcrafts and eco-tourism industries. Its further development should bring improvements in transport connections by air or river, as many areas of the park are inaccessible by land.

New roads and air routes will boost tourism in the Guianas
Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana are often collectively referred to as ‘The Guianas’. These three small northern territories of South America have much in common. Almost 80% of each territory is covered by the Amazonian forest, with the result that their populations are concentred in coastal areas. Moreover, some inland parts of all three territories can only be accessed by air or river.

2005 brought the opening of a road connecting Régina to Saint-Georges de l’Oyapock (a border city to Brazil), completing a longer coastal road connecting Venezuela to Brazil through Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. This trans-Guianese road is likely to boost tourism between neighbouring countries, increasing not only arrivals to French Guiana but also departures. The Guianas have the attraction of being multicultural societies with strong colonial histories, which nowadays are represented by close ties with the UK, the Netherlands and France. For example, French Guiana can count peoples of Native American Indian, Creole, European, African, Chinese and Vietnamese heritage among its population. Despite the similarity of their natural landscapes, residents of the Guianas could find it interesting to visit neighbouring countries and territories due to their significant cultural difference. At the end of 2007, however, tourism between these countries and territories was still underdeveloped, partly due to local rivalries.

Regarding international visitors, as a result of the new flight from Cayenne to Paramaribo operated by Air France since the end of 2007, some travel agencies and tour operators now offer packages that include both destinations. In addition, packages combining destinations from the State of Amapa in Brazil, Suriname and French Guiana are also being promoted. Such packages allow international visitors to experience the rich and diverse cultural history of the Guianas, and should help to bring more tourists into French Guiana over the forecast period.

Space Centre continues to attract visitors on business and pleasure trips
Even though French Guiana’s main asset in terms of attracting tourism is ostensibly its natural landscape, in 2007 60% of tourists who visited the island listed business as the purpose of their trip. This is explained principally by the importance of the Guiana Space Centre (Centre Spatial Guyanais), which is located 65km northwest of Cayenne, in Kourou. Since 1968, the European Space Agency has launched its communication satellites from Kourou. As a result, many visitors to Kourou are engineers and technicians working at the Space Centre, though it also attracts ordinary tourists with an interest in space travel. In 2007, industries related to the Space Centre accounted for 25% of French Guiana’s GDP, providing a major source of employment for local people. At the end of the year, construction of a new launch pad was underway in Guyana, on the commune of Sinnamary, in anticipation of the arrival of two new rockets, Soyuz and Vega, in 2008.

Aside from those interested in space travel, French Guiana also attracts biologists, scientists and ordinary tourists with an interest in its local fauna and flora.