The Isle of Saint-Barthelemy (the Lesser Antilles): a Luxury Tourism Destination

L'île de Saint-Barthélemy (Petites Antilles): une destination du tourisme de luxe

Sopheap Theng ()
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Sopheap Theng: BIORECA - UMR ESPECE DEV - Biodiversité, Risques Écologiques dans les Territoires Caraïbes Insulaires - Université des Antilles (Pôle Martinique) - UA - Université des Antilles

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Abstract: Within thirty years, the small island of Saint-Barthelemy (25 km²) is out of its secular isolation to be among major luxury tourism destinations in the world. In this study, the idea is to identify structural element and different cyclical factors that help to understand Saint-Barthelemy tourism situation. The small size of the territory itself can be seen as a fundamental handicap or, conversely, as a considerable asset. Everything depends on development project. It is necessary to know how to take advantage of specific characteristics of this type of territory. In Saint-Barthelemy case, scarcity is coveted; this coveted rarity is accessible only for rich people. The coveted rarity leads to luxury. Isolation is relative: this destination is not accessible to the jumbo jets. The airline market is controlled essentially by two small local companies and the airspace is open to charter flies and private aircrafts. Some other companies provide more or less regular flights from nearby airports of San Juan (Puerto Rico), Sint-Maarten and Guadeloupe. Luxury cannot be decreed, it is not planned. Luxury tourism is the election of a territory by elites who gather there to enjoy away from the rest of the world.

Keywords: luxury tourism; destination; small island; tourist route; luxe; petite île; tourisme de luxe; trajectoire touristique (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-04-01
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.univ-antilles.fr/hal-01364775
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Published in Etudes Caribéennes, 2014, Mondes insulaires : espaces, temporalité, ressources, 27-28, http://etudescaribeennes.revues.org/6831. ⟨10.4000/etudescaribeennes.6831⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01364775

DOI: 10.4000/etudescaribeennes.6831

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