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Tourism is an important part of the economy of Réunion, an island and French overseas departement in the
The island has been inhabited since the 17th century. As a stop on the route des Indes, it was visited by sailors, diplomats and explorers. It was also popular with naturalists such as
Tourism started to develop beyond anything previously known in Réunion. A second airport, Pierrefonds near Saint-Pierre, opened to commercial traffic in 1998. In January of that year the ''Observatoire du développement de La Réunion'' noted that the general public were still sensitive to the development of the new sector, although it created many new jobs on the island. Tourism brought 370,000 visitors to ''the Intense Island'' (as it had been named by the CTR), with a turnover of 1.7 million francs.
In 2000, the turnover from tourism overtook that of the local sugar industry. The authorities were confronted with new problems: land management, and the effect of tourism on local culture.
Initiatives answering that question began to multiply, such as the start of villa holidays in the west of the island. In 2001, several communes elaborated on the concept of ''creole village'', celebrating the diversity of Réunion heritage. Fifteen villages sought to highlight their individuality. For
Tourism is an important part of the economy of Réunion, an island and French overseas departement in the Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
. Despite its many tourism assets, the island's tourist attractions are not well known.
History
The discovery of the island
The island has been inhabited since the 17th century. As a stop on the route des Indes, it was visited by sailors, diplomats and explorers. It was also popular with naturalists such as Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent
Jean-Baptiste Geneviève Marcellin Bory de Saint-Vincent was a French naturalist, officer and politician. He was born on 6 July 1778 in Agen (Lot-et-Garonne) and died on 22 December 1846 in Paris. Biologist and geographer, he was particularly in ...
. It was almost by accident that Charles Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited ...
stayed there for several weeks in 1841. Difficult to reach before the advent of commercial flight, it took a long time before being featuring on the tourist circuit. Travel was also difficult on the island itself. Before the Réunion railway was built in 1882, it took two days to cross the island from Saint-Denis to Saint-Pierre. Only intrepid hikers made the several-day expedition to see the active volcano
A volcano is a rupture in the Crust (geology), crust of a Planet#Planetary-mass objects, planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Ear ...
Piton de la Fournaise
Piton de la Fournaise (; en, "Peak of the Furnace") is a shield volcano on the eastern side of Réunion island (a French overseas department and region) in the Indian Ocean. It is currently one of the most active volcanoes in the world, alo ...
. Creole families from the west explored the more accessible (but still wild) sites such as Bernica and the Saint-Gilles Ravine, as recorded in the poems of Leconte de Lisle
Charles Marie René Leconte de Lisle (; 22 October 1818 – 17 July 1894) was a French poet of the Parnassian movement. He is traditionally known by his surname only, Leconte de Lisle''.
Biography
Leconte de Lisle was born on the French overseas ...
. The painter Antoine Roussin published ''L'Album de l'île'' as a series of installments in 1857. He was Réunionese by adoption and these paintings gave an idea of the landscape and the most popular sites on the island during the second half of the 19th century.
The rise of thermalism in the 19th century set off a some tourist activity among customers looking for relaxation. The spa clients stayed in the elegant Hell-Bourg
Hell-Bourg is a small village in the Salazie commune (administrative division) of the French overseas department of Réunion. It is the main community in the island's Cirque de Salazie, and is named for the respected former admiral and island ...
station, and also in Cilaos
Cilaos () is a town and commune on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. It is located centrally on the island, in a caldera of altitude 1,214 m. The caldera (usually known as the 'Cirque') is also named for the community.
History
...
after 1882. Access difficulties and the lack of infrastructure stopped a third location, Mafate-les-eaux, from exploiting its thermal potential in the same way.
Until the first half of the 20th century, the economy depended on sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...
. Réunion became a French department
In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...
in 1946.
From becoming a department until the 1990s
Contact with mainland France increased, with the arrival offunctionaries
An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...
in Réunion, and many of the local populace moving to the mainland to search for work. By the end of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, flights operated between France and Réunion every three days.
In 1963, Réunion received 3000 visitors, who stayed in its four tourist hotels. The first Boeing 707 left Gillot airport in 1967. Despite these changes, the island remained less popular with tourists than other destinations, and in particular received fewer tourists than the other overseas departments
The overseas departments and regions of France (french: départements et régions d'outre-mer, ; ''DROM'') are departments of France that are outside metropolitan France, the European part of France. They have exactly the same status as mainlan ...
.''Tourisme et développement'' (Note d'Information n°34, 01/04/1998) This was partly due to Air France
Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global a ...
's (and Air Madagascar's) monopoly of flights to the island. Other organisations started to get involved, including Club Med
Club Med SAS, commonly known as Club Med and previously known as Club Méditerranée SA, is a French travel and tourism operator headquartered in Paris, specializing in all-inclusive holidays. Founded in 1950, the company has been primarily o ...
in the first half of the 1970s and Novotel
Novotel is a French midscale hotel brand owned by Accor. Created in 1967 in France, the company grew into what became the Accor group in 1983, and Novotel remained a pillar brand of Accor's multi-brand strategy. Novotel manages 559 hotels in 6 ...
in 1976. But it took the deregulation of air traffic (between 1983 and 1986) and the end of Air France's monopoly (allowing Union de Transports Aériens
Union de Transports Aériens (abbreviated as UTA and sometimes known as UTA French Airlines), was a French airline that was formed in 1963 as a result of a merger between Union Aéromaritime de Transport (UAT) and Transports Aériens Interconti ...
) for tourism to start to develop spontaneously. The island gained a specific body for tourism in 1989. It was called the Réunion Tourism Committee (the CTR). Tourism truly developed during the 1990s and became one of the island's important economic resources.
1990–2004: the big tourist boom
Tourism started to develop beyond anything previously known in Réunion. A second airport, Pierrefonds near Saint-Pierre, opened to commercial traffic in 1998. In January of that year the ''Observatoire du développement de La Réunion'' noted that the general public were still sensitive to the development of the new sector, although it created many new jobs on the island. Tourism brought 370,000 visitors to ''the Intense Island'' (as it had been named by the CTR), with a turnover of 1.7 million francs.
In 2000, the turnover from tourism overtook that of the local sugar industry. The authorities were confronted with new problems: land management, and the effect of tourism on local culture.
Initiatives answering that question began to multiply, such as the start of villa holidays in the west of the island. In 2001, several communes elaborated on the concept of ''creole village'', celebrating the diversity of Réunion heritage. Fifteen villages sought to highlight their individuality. For Bourg-Murat
Bourg-Murat is a village on the Plaine des CafresRSMA Bourg Murat
(French). on the French island of , this meant ''life at the door of the volcano''; for Entre-Deux it was ''Creole huts and houses''. The island started to publish a list of top-quality establishments in 1995 to rewarded the best providers of accommodation and catering. By 2002, the list included 70 different establishments. The emphasis was on marketing, the idea being to increase tourism it was important to publicise Réunion and show the world a positive image. The 10 years of effort yielded fruit: Réunion had 426,000 tourists in 2002 and was the fifth most popular destination for tourists from the French mainland. The regions of the island did not develop equally – tourism mostly benefited the north and the beaches to the west. Their success encouraged other communes who had previously been more concerned about the new sector, for example Saint-Louis and Sainte-Suzanne, which began initiatives to attract both internal and external tourists. The French government also intervened to support overseas tourism, by launching a campaign in 2003 called ''France of the three oceans'', and the Insee saw a growth in tourism to Réunion despite international tensions affecting air traffic in general. A new airline opened, Air Bourbon, funded partly by Réunion capital, and made its first flights between the island and the mainland after a rough start. Consideration was also given to the impact of tourism, particularly internal tourism. This was also growing quickly, with the construction of new recreational areas, hiking trails and picnic areas. This was damaging natural sites in an unanticipated way. But globally, the mood was optimistic and the island published a text ''Schéma de développement touristique de La Réunion'' in 2004. That year, they received 430,000 external tourists and generated 6,000 jobs in the sector, providing 6.5% of the total salary for all workers. Also in 2004, the CTR launched an initiative to intensively promote gay tourism by featuring the island at the Salon rainbow Attitude, the European gay expo. CTR opened a website as part of their effort to increase online tourist marketing. In January 2005 the responsibility for tourism was transferred to the region itself.''Schéma de développement touristique de La Réunion'', p. 61 In March of that year, the council proposed the ambitious goal of exceeding a million tourists in 2020. They proposed a series of measures, notably adapting the accommodation for disabled people, and to ride the new wave of well-off tourists, particularly senior citizens. In October 2005, Réunion was the sixth most popular overseas department for tourists. They formed a partnership with the sister island of
Réunion's tourist attractions are not well known, and include its favourable climate and impressive scenery. The island's topography is very mountainous, with mountains that can be as high as 3,000 m (9,842 ft) close to the coast. The island has many natural tourist attractions, including
(French). on the French island of , this meant ''life at the door of the volcano''; for Entre-Deux it was ''Creole huts and houses''. The island started to publish a list of top-quality establishments in 1995 to rewarded the best providers of accommodation and catering. By 2002, the list included 70 different establishments. The emphasis was on marketing, the idea being to increase tourism it was important to publicise Réunion and show the world a positive image. The 10 years of effort yielded fruit: Réunion had 426,000 tourists in 2002 and was the fifth most popular destination for tourists from the French mainland. The regions of the island did not develop equally – tourism mostly benefited the north and the beaches to the west. Their success encouraged other communes who had previously been more concerned about the new sector, for example Saint-Louis and Sainte-Suzanne, which began initiatives to attract both internal and external tourists. The French government also intervened to support overseas tourism, by launching a campaign in 2003 called ''France of the three oceans'', and the Insee saw a growth in tourism to Réunion despite international tensions affecting air traffic in general. A new airline opened, Air Bourbon, funded partly by Réunion capital, and made its first flights between the island and the mainland after a rough start. Consideration was also given to the impact of tourism, particularly internal tourism. This was also growing quickly, with the construction of new recreational areas, hiking trails and picnic areas. This was damaging natural sites in an unanticipated way. But globally, the mood was optimistic and the island published a text ''Schéma de développement touristique de La Réunion'' in 2004. That year, they received 430,000 external tourists and generated 6,000 jobs in the sector, providing 6.5% of the total salary for all workers. Also in 2004, the CTR launched an initiative to intensively promote gay tourism by featuring the island at the Salon rainbow Attitude, the European gay expo. CTR opened a website as part of their effort to increase online tourist marketing. In January 2005 the responsibility for tourism was transferred to the region itself.''Schéma de développement touristique de La Réunion'', p. 61 In March of that year, the council proposed the ambitious goal of exceeding a million tourists in 2020. They proposed a series of measures, notably adapting the accommodation for disabled people, and to ride the new wave of well-off tourists, particularly senior citizens. In October 2005, Réunion was the sixth most popular overseas department for tourists. They formed a partnership with the sister island of
Mauritius
Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...
to promote the Mascarene Islands
The Mascarene Islands (, ) or Mascarenes or Mascarenhas Archipelago is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of the islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of Réunion. Their ...
as a tourist destination.
The clientele are distinguished from tourists to other places by the high number of affinity tourists. An ''affinity tourist'' is someone who goes on holiday to stay with friends or family who already live in the destination.
2005–2006: The crisis
The first indication of the crisis appeared in 2005 when the numbers started to show a decline in the tourist sector. According to Insee figures, the decline got stronger and stronger. The crisis was global and affected the other French overseas departments too, but Réunion attributed it to a marketing failure.''JIR'', Tuesday 28 June 2005, « La Réunion s'exporte pour mieux importer les touristes » A series of mishaps contributed to a damaged image of Réunion as a destination. At the end of 2004, Air Bourbon went into liquidation, which left travellers on the island without a flight home. 7000 customers failed to get a refund for their tickets. In August 2005,Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a former French actress, singer and model. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated characters with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the ...
wrote to the head of Réunion to complain about the "dogs as shark bait" scandal, which had caused a media storm. Also, the Chikungunya
Chikungunya is an infection caused by the ''Chikungunya virus'' (CHIKV). Symptoms include fever and joint pains. These typically occur two to twelve days after exposure. Other symptoms may include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, and a ra ...
epidemic, which started at the end of 2005, reached a peak in January 2006.
These all dissuaded people from visiting the island and receipts from tourism fell by 27% and employment declined in the hotel industry. The CTR blamed the drop in tourism on the epidemic, in addition to the negative image that the island had suffered in the media.''JIR, Wednesday 14 June 2006, « L'île à sensations victime de ses images négatives » There had also been media exaggeration of the risk of shark attacks around the island, and of the risk of links to the Asian SARS
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1), the first identified strain of the SARS coronavirus species, ''seve ...
outbreak.
Believing the crisis to be cyclical, the CTR relaunched an information campaign, while the local tourism employers turned to the mainland for support. Three months later, barely 3 million of the expected 60 million had reached their intended recipients. Large groups with international stature, such as Bourbon Bourbon may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bourbon whiskey, an American whiskey made using a corn-based mash
* Bourbon barrel aged beer, a type of beer aged in bourbon barrels
* Bourbon biscuit, a chocolate sandwich biscuit
* A beer produced by Bras ...
and Accor
Accor S.A. is a French multinational hospitality company that owns, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and vacation properties. It is the largest hospitality company in Europe, and the sixth largest hospitality company worldwide.
Accor ope ...
, were excluded from state support due to European regulations. Small, local, businesses struggled to compile the right documentation. The Villepin government celebrated it as ''4.5 million to relaunch tourism''. A ''plan to relaunch Réunion as a destination'' was announced in September 2005. This campaign was launched from the City Hall steps in Paris, at the invitation of the mayor, Bertrand Delanoë
Bertrand Delanoë (; born 30 May 1950) is a French retired politician who served as Mayor of Paris from 2001 to 2014. A member of the Socialist Party (PS), he previously served in the National Assembly from 1981 to 1986 and Senate from 1995 unt ...
. They hoped this would relaunch the destination with the mainlanders and Réunion expatriates, and seduce foreign tourists with the Creole village punch and samosas. The campaign was publicised by the written media, television and the internet. The CTR were assigned a budget of 800,000 Euros to publicise Réunion better in Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.
At the same time, the Prime Minister told the agency ''Odit France'' to compile a report analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of tourism in Réunion.
At the end of 2006, the ''Journal de l'île'' published an article claiming that the problems being discussed were in fact masking the underlying structural problems.
Improvements since 2014 onwards
In 2014, 405,700 foreign tourists visited the island. Tourists coming from metropolitan France (Europe) were 78% of the total. That same year, the number of tourists from the rest of Europe also increased to an unprecedented 32,400 (a 49% increase). The jump is mainly explained by the increase in German visitors, Swiss and Belgian visitors accounting for 77% of tourists from the rest of Europe. For the first time, the number of German visitors exceeded the threshold of 10,000.Tourist numbers
Tourism is a major contributor to Réunion's economy. In 2014, 405,700 foreign tourists visited the island. Despite this, the island does not experience mass tourism. The island has impressive natural features inland, but these natural tourist attractions are not well known. In order to boost its tourist industry, the authorities in Réunion heavily promote the country in France and at travel and tourism conferences throughout the world, and diversification of Réunion's tourist industry is a high priority. The tourist industry promotes the island's environment and encourages outdoor activities andecotourism
Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide fund ...
. Réunion's peak tourist season is from late June to early September, with another busy period from October to early January.
In 2001, 424,000 tourists visited Réunion, creating a revenue of €
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...
271.5 million. The number of tourists visiting Réunion decreased in 2004 because of the high cost of flights to the country and competition from the tourist attractions of Mauritius
Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...
and Seychelles
Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...
. The 2005 Chikungunya
Chikungunya is an infection caused by the ''Chikungunya virus'' (CHIKV). Symptoms include fever and joint pains. These typically occur two to twelve days after exposure. Other symptoms may include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, and a ra ...
epidemic in Réunion was reported by the French media, which caused a loss of confidence among tourists. Tourist bookings decreased by more than 60% during 2006 and early 2007. One-third of the island's population was infected with the virus by 2007. Large efforts were made to kill the island's mosquito population, and the tourist industry began to recover. The island's status as an overseas department of France has benefited its infrastructure.
Tourist attractions
Réunion's tourist attractions are not well known, and include its favourable climate and impressive scenery. The island's topography is very mountainous, with mountains that can be as high as 3,000 m (9,842 ft) close to the coast. The island has many natural tourist attractions, including Piton des Neiges
The Piton des Neiges (Snow Peak) is a massive 3,069 m (10,069 ft) shield volcano on Réunion, one of the French volcanic islands in the Mascarene Archipelago in the southwestern Indian Ocean. It is located about east of Madagascar ...
(the highest point on the island), lava cliffs, and deep canyons. Another tourist attraction is the active shield volcano Piton de la Fournaise
Piton de la Fournaise (; en, "Peak of the Furnace") is a shield volcano on the eastern side of Réunion island (a French overseas department and region) in the Indian Ocean. It is currently one of the most active volcanoes in the world, alo ...
, one of the most active volcanoes in the world. The collapsed caldera
A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...
s of Cirque de Cilaos
A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform ...
, Cirque de Mafate
The ''Cirque de Mafate'' is a caldera on Réunion Island (France; located in the Indian Ocean). It was formed from the collapse of the large shield volcano the ''Piton des Neiges''.
The very remote and inaccessible cirque was settled in the 19 ...
, and Cirque de Salazie
Salazie () is a volcanic caldera and commune (administrative division) in the department and region of Réunion.
The first settlement of the area took place in 1829 after a cyclone had devastated the nearby coast, and the municipality of Sal ...
also draw tourists. The Le Maïdo viewpoint is located at an altitude of 2,205 m (7,232 ft) and has excellent views of the coast. There is good surfing off the island's west coast.
Réunion's capital Saint-Denis and the lagoons of St-Gilles-les Bains also attract tourists. The Domaine du Grand Hazier, an 18th-century home of a sugar planter and official French historical monument, has a large garden with fruit tree
A fruit tree is a tree which bears fruit that is consumed or used by animals and humans — all trees that are flowering plants produce fruit, which are the ripened ovaries of flowers containing one or more seeds. In horticultural usage, t ...
s and tropical flowers. Festivals take place year round throughout the island.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reunion +Reunion Tourism in France