Guadeloupe Islands Make Top 10 List

[Ed Wetschler]

**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE** NEW YORK, NY – June 13th, 2016    The GUADELOUPE ISLANDS part of the TOP 10 CARIBBEAN DESTINATIONS THIS YEAR. MADE THE TOP 10 ABSOLUTE & INDEXED RANKINGS of the2016 CARIBBEAN TOURISM QUALITY INDEX by Resonance Report.   On June 2nd, on the occasion of the CTO Caribbean week in New York, the highly anticipated 2016 Caribbean Tourism Quality Index by Resonance Report was officially released. The 2016 Caribbean Tourism Quality Index measures tourism’s supply-side performance and competitiveness in 28 destinations across the Caribbean based on both absolute and indexed scales. The absolute scale measures the total number of quality experiences; the indexed scale evaluates performance in terms of how many quality experiences are delivered per visitor. Key site Trip Advisor was used to qualify and quantify the experiences, only “Very Good” or “Excellent” ratings were considered as entries for the study. Resonance only considered Caribbean destinations with more than 100,000 annual visitors for this report. The rankings are based on an analysis of the number of products or experiences in 16 different areas, in addition to two statistical fields, crime rates (UNODC) and air access (OPEN FLIGHTS). For each destination, rankings are grouped into eight core categories: Culture - Entertainment - Sightseeing - Sports & Adventure - Culinary - Lodging -Safety - Connectivity.   The Guadeloupe Islands Tourist board is proud to announce that the archipelago of Guadeloupe made the TOP 10 in six out of 8 categories: Culture (ranked #9), Sightseeing (ranked #10), Sports & Adventure (ranked #7),Culinary (ranked #6), Lodging (ranked #10),  Safety (ranked #10) as well as the TOP 10 ABSOLUTE RANKING and the TOP 10 INDEXED RANGING.

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The Resonance report stated: “The Je ne sais quoi of the Caribbean, Guadeloupe is a mix of Caribbean cool and French chic that climbed from last year’s 15th spot to number seven this year. Guadeloupe’s Pointe-à-Pître port reported a 50 percent increase in sea passengers from 2014-2015, reaching 320,000 visitors. The French-owned region relies on France for more than 60 percent of its air passengers, but in late 2015, Norwegian Air began serving Guadeloupe with seven new weekly non-stop flights from New York, Boston, Baltimore and Washington D.C. The hope is to build upon the 29 percent increase of U.S. travelers to the island since 2012. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a French region, Guadeloupe ranks fifth overall for restaurants, and sixth in the Absolute culinary ranking behind only Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Bahamas and Jamaica. […] While the region’s largest countries continue to attract the highest volume of sightseers, smaller nations are clawing their way into the discussion – not just with spectacular landscapes, but with big ideas. Guadeloupe’s Memorial ACTe opened in July 2015 in Pointe-à-Pitre to commemorate the history of the slave trade in the region. The interactive permanent exhibit intertwines the history of slavery with contemporary art and photography covering the theme of African diaspora. UNESCO has deemed it important enough to make it part of its Slave Route Project.”

“Making it to both the TOP 10 ABSOLUTE and TOP 10 INDEXED RANKINGS this year is a great achievement for us as it validates our global strategy and demonstrates our ability to evolve within a short period of time. Working very closely with all our partners and especially with Norwegian Air, has been a key component to the success of our destination’s long term development. The massive investment of our hotels and alternative lodging in their infrastructure for the past 5 years has resulted today in placing the destination in the TOP 10 ABSOLUTE RANKING for Hotels & Lodging. We are also optimistic as the CULINARY, SIGHTSEEING, SPORTS & ADVENTURE experiences, which have been recognized by the Resonance Report as the most valued by travelers, are the best assets of the Guadeloupe Islands.” said Sandra Venite, USA Director for the Guadeloupe Islands Tourist Board.