New Caledonia Tourism Statistics

New Caledonia welcomed 58,421 international tourists in 2025, down 53.3% from 2023.

• The 2025 total was slightly below the 59,399 tourists recorded in 2024.
• ISEE reported that tourism remained far below the stronger years of 2019 and 2023.
• The first two quarters of 2025 were especially weak, with about 9,700 tourists in Q1 and 12,500 in Q2.
• Visitor numbers improved through the year, but the fourth quarter still remained around half the level seen in the best years.

New Caledonia averaged about 160 international tourist arrivals per day in 2025, compared with about 359 per day in 2019.

• The 2023 recovery year averaged about 343 tourists per day.
• The 2024 and 2025 downturn years averaged about 162 and 160 tourists per day, respectively.
• During the pandemic low point in 2021, the average was only about 38 tourists per day.

Official visitor-spending survey data put average on-island spending at 11,000 XPF per tourist per day based on recent profiles, excluding international air transport.

• Average spending per stay was 131,101 XPF per tourist, excluding international air transport.
• Japanese visitors had the highest estimated daily spending, at 22,000 XPF per day.
• Visitors from Metropolitan France averaged 5,000 XPF per day, but their longer average stays lifted their total spend per trip.
• Australian visitors averaged 10,300 XPF per day.

Visiting friends and family was the leading travel motive in 2025, accounting for 42% of tourists, followed by holidays at 38%.

• 11% travelled for business or work.
• 8% visited for other reasons.
• Holiday travel remained the main motive for visitors from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Europe outside Metropolitan France, and much of Asia.
• Visiting friends and family was the main motive for visitors from Metropolitan France, Wallis and Futuna, Vanuatu, and French Polynesia.

New Caledonia’s main tourist-arrival statistics cover international tourists only.

• The official ISEE tourist series counts visitors arriving at Tontouta who spend at least one night in New Caledonia.
• Cruise passengers are treated separately as cruise excursionists.
• Residents travelling within New Caledonia are not included in the international tourist-arrival series.

New Caledonian residents made 75,485 return trips from abroad in 2022, still 47% below the 2019 benchmark.

• Outbound travel fell to 48,725 trips in 2020 after the closure of international borders.
• The low point was 9,191 trips in 2021.
• The 2022 total marked the beginning of recovery in resident travel abroad.

New Caledonia’s tourism appeal is built around its lagoons, reefs, islands, Kanak culture, French-Pacific identity, and heritage sites.

• The Lagoons of New Caledonia were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2008.
• UNESCO describes the lagoons as one of the world’s most extensive reef systems and highlights their exceptional coral, fish, mangrove, seagrass, turtle, whale, and dugong habitats.
• New Caledonia Tourism highlights the territory’s UNESCO-listed lagoons, cultural mix, natural spaces, and temperate climate.
• The Tjibaou Cultural Centre in Nouméa is promoted as a major cultural site focused on Kanak culture and designed by Renzo Piano.
• Official tourism materials also highlight destinations such as Lifou, the Isle of Pines, Amédée Lighthouse, and Nouméa’s museums, markets, beaches, and heritage sites.