Martinique is a dynamic island with a tourism sector which has recovered well since Covid.
The island is developing regional tourism with strong growth in North American tourists. Interview with Bruno Brival director of the Martinique Tourism Committee.
BusinessTravel.fr: how is tourism doing in Martinique?
Bruno Brival, director of the CMT: we have exceeded 1 million tourists in 2023, a figure that we have not seen since the 80s. This represents an increase compared to the pre-Covid period in 2019 of 3.9% when we welcomed approximately 950,000 tourists. Of these figures, there are approximately 380,000 French people and the rest are spread across different countries. We are trying to change our communication to encourage tourists to come in low season or to discover gastronomy, nature tourism or even memorial tourism.
BusinessTravel.fr: have you succeeded in developing connections and regional tourism?
Bruno Brival, director of the CMT: Canada now represents the first international market for Martinique with around 25,000 tourists in 2023. We already exceeded the 2023 figures in June with 28,000 Canadian tourists. This becomes a preferential market for the territory. There are around ten flights connecting Canada to Martinique in high season, mainly from Quebec with a flight from Toronto in high season.
BusinessTravel.fr: and what about the United States?
Bruno Brival, director of the CMT: we want to target the entire territory, this clientele is in our objectives. We have 2 flights per week to Miami with American Airlines. We would like to develop the east coast with a flight to New York. Discussions are underway; we have relatively serious leads. We currently have results on the cultural aspect for the discovery of great literary characters, on the university clientele for memorial tourism. As for the rest of the area, the lines continue to develop with connections to Guadeloupe, Santo Domingo, Guyana, Dominica, Barbados, Saint Lucia. It is only with Cuba that we have no connection.
BusinessTravel.fr: due to its geographical location, Martinique is very well located to develop the French economy in America. What are your results in the field of BusinessTravel?
Bruno Brival, director of the CMT: We are currently limited by our hotel capacities by only being able to accommodate conferences of up to 800 people. But this will change with the opening of several large hotel projects, particularly in the Diamant area with hotels of 250 to 300 rooms. At the MICe level we have good national and regional activity and we want to develop inventive offers around our UNESCO classified sites (Editor’s note: Volcanoes and forests of Montagne Pelée and the Pitons of the north of Martinique” composed of three massifs Mont Conil, Montagne Pelée and the peaks of Carbet).
SOURCE : Business Travel.
