The latest travel barometer availed by Reunion Island Tourism (IRT) for August shows some amazing upturn in journeys and passenger numbers from the French mainland.

The data reaffirms the optimism expressed by the island’s tourism industry which expects a record year after being constantly in the news around the world.

The SNAV barometer/Atout France, indicates that Reunion Island is the first French destination in terms of booking volume. It is also the only destination counting a number of arrivals on the upswing, unlike other destinations overseas (French Antilles, French Polynesia) and metropolitan/mainland France. The island’s tourism marketing office has made the current statistics available and indeed, on closer inspection, all the main dates show sharp rises compared to the same time last year.

The same also applies in the other direction – visits by Reunion Island’s residents visiting France – where again this French Indian island region is the only one showing growth.

The travel barometer gauges the opinions of France’s travel trade and their confidence vis-a-vis one destination versus another and is a supreme vote of confidence in Reunion Island, which of course tirelessly promotes the island’s great many tourism attractions, four volcanic eruptions this year included, with the last one now lasting already over 50 days.

Important also is the length of stay, and again, Reunion Islands does exceedingly well.

While travelers from Reunion Island to mainland France are opting predominantly for medium-term stays of between 5 and 12 nights (45%), those traveling from the French mainland to Reunion Island mostly spend on average 12 days on the island (63%).This relatively long stay on Reunion Island is a strong indicator in terms of economic benefits and encourages tourism professionals to target this market with a wide range of offers to provide value for tourists and increase the duration of visits even more.

WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE:

The travel barometer gauges the opinions of France's travel trade and their confidence vis-a-vis one destination versus another and is a supreme vote of confidence in Reunion Island, which of course tirelessly promotes the island's great many tourism attractions, four volcanic eruptions this year included, with the last one now lasting already over 50 days.
While travelers from Reunion Island to mainland France are opting predominantly for medium-term stays of between 5 and 12 nights (45%), those traveling from the French mainland to Reunion Island mostly spend on average 12 days on the island (63%).
This relatively long stay on Reunion Island is a strong indicator in terms of economic benefits and encourages tourism professionals to target this market with a wide range of offers to provide value for tourists and increase the duration of visits even more.