French Polynesia recorded a total of 89,400 tourists in 2020, ranking 172nd in the world in absolute terms.
That smaller countries regularly perform lower in a comparison of the absolute number of guests, is obvious. By putting the tourist numbers in relation to the population of French Polynesia, the result is much more comparable picture: With 0.32 tourists per resident, French Polynesia ranked 76th in the world. In Polynesia, it ranked 2nd.
French Polynesia generated around 782.00 million US Dollar in the tourism sector alone. This corresponds to 13.79 percent of its the gross domestic product and approximately 78 percent of all international tourism receipts in Polynesia.
On average, each of the tourists arriving in 2016 spent about 2,744 US Dollars. Conversely, the inhabitants of French Polynesia spend as much as 3,981 dollars a year when they themselves spend vacations abroad.
Development of the tourism sector in French Polynesia from 1995 to 2020
The following chart shows the number of tourist arrivals registered in French Polynesia each year. Anyone who spends at least one night in the country but does not live there for more than 12 months is considered a tourist. Insofar as the survey included the purpose of the trip, business trips and other non-tourism travel purposes have already been excluded. The number of people passing through within the same day, and e.g. crew members of ships or flights are also not considered as tourists in most countries. If the same person travels in and out more than once within the same year, each visit counts again.
The red line represents the average of all 5 countries in Polynesia.
Revenues in tourism
In 1995, tourism revenues amounted to 326.00 million USD, or about 8.2 percent of the gross national product. This corresponded to about 186,000 tourists at that time and roughly 1,753 USD per person. Within 21 years, the country's dependence on tourism has increased noticeably. Before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, sales took up $782.00 million billion, 14.23 percent of gross national product. Thus, each visitor spent an average of $3,245 on their vacation in French Polynesia.
Full figures for 2020, the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, are not currently available. However, national and international travel has been restricted worldwide, and some countries have even been closed off from the outside world altogether. Dramatic revenue losses are expected, with some countries experiencing losses of up to more than 80%.
All data for French Polynesia in detail
Year
Number of tourists
Receipts
% of GNP
Receipts per tourist
2020
89,400.00
2019
300,000
2018
264,000
2017
254,000
2016
241,000
782.00 m $
14.23 %
3,245 $
2015
239,000
758.00 m $
14.23 %
3,172 $
2014
228,000
835.00 m $
3,662 $
2013
214,000
746.00 m $
3,486 $
2012
210,000
720.00 m $
3,429 $
2011
196,000
725.00 m $
3,699 $
2010
179,000
630.00 m $
3,520 $
2009
190,000
618.00 m $
3,253 $
2008
227,000
737.00 m $
3,247 $
2007
243,000
537.00 m $
2,210 $
2006
222,000
463.00 m $
2,086 $
2005
208,000
759.00 m $
3,649 $
2004
212,000
737.00 m $
3,476 $
2003
213,000
651.00 m $
3,056 $
2002
189,000
471.00 m $
2,492 $
2001
228,000
2000
252,000
1999
236,000
394.00 m $
10.38 %
1,669 $
1998
211,000
354.00 m $
9.4 %
1,678 $
1997
201,000
345.00 m $
9.7 %
1,716 $
1996
184,000
322.00 m $
8.1 %
1,750 $
1995
186,000
326.00 m $
8.2 %
1,753 $
Our data on tourist numbers, revenues and expenditures are based on information from the World Tourism Organization. However, to ensure international comparability, the data for some years or countries were manually researched and corrected if they obviously included visitors without overnight stays. In these cases, the data were taken from the official communications of the respective national tourism authorities.
The WTO additionally points out that in some countries the number of tourists is only counted at airports, in others also at border crossings or even hotels. A comprehensive and reliable indication is therefore hardly possible in any country.
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