United States health authorities advise against Guadeloupe for Americans

A beach in Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe.

Bobyfume

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

The Center for Disease Control recommends avoiding travel to the French department, which is moving to the maximum alert level because of the spread of cases of the Omicron variant.

Because since January 5, Guadeloupe has been placed by the French health authorities in a state of emergency.

It is a blow for the tourist sector which hoped to recover after the unrest at the end of last year.

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The decision comes as tourism in Guadeloupe is already affected by the successive waves of Covid-19 and of course the violence of last November.

Blockages of several axes of the archipelago which had temporarily led to the closure of the airlines connecting it to the United States.

A market that tourism professionals in Guadeloupe have been trying to conquer for several years.

The sector has spared no effort to bring tourists from North America to the sandy beaches and rivers of Guadeloupe.

Massive promotional campaign, investments to improve the hotel offer and adapt it to American demand, everything has been done to shine in the face of competition from the neighboring English-speaking islands.

North Americans accounted for 6% of foreign tourists in 2019.

But tourists who spend 25% more on average than those of metropolitan France.

“

 ”: the message from the CDC falls like a chopper but it will be necessary to wait a few days to know the concrete consequences on reservations.

The sector is already well weakened.

To help it and strengthen its resilience, the French government decided this week to create a Strategic Committee for Overseas Tourism.

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