CARIBAVIA 2022 - Saint-Barthélemy unplugged - endless trail

CARIBAVIA 2022 and The Collectivity of Saint-Barthélemy gave us an amazing opportunity to discover the island. Very small committee, we took the flight from the Grand Case St Martin Airport to the Saint-Barthélemy Remy de Haenen Airport. 7 minutes flight with St Barth Commuter Cessna Grand Caravan and the discovery journey started. 25 square kilometers of paradise, since 2007 The island of Saint Barthélemy became an Overseas Collectivity (COM). A governing territorial council assures its administration, which provided the island with a certain degree of autonomy. Tourism attracts about 200,000 visitors every year (if we don’t talk about pandemic period).

We had the chance to discuss tourism and aviation actualities with The President of the Collectivity Mr. Xavier Lédéé, Director of the airport, Mr. Fabrice Danet and President of CTTSB Pascale Minarro.

Tourism at Saint-Barthélemy Island is the only sustainable activity. Saint-Barthélemy can not have mass tourism. The airport is as big as it is and already working on full capacity. The harbor is small, so it can welcome only limited number of yachts. It is very important to keep and improve the quality of services. The collectivity created a Tourism Commission, which will be responsible for tourism development. The main moto of tourism on Saint Barths – it is not about quantity; it is about quality.

It is very important to keep the balance between high-quality tourism on the island and local life. Tourism obviously is very important for the island. Many other activities are directly depending of tourism. Tourism is changing as well. It becomes easier to travel, for many people. Saint-Barth has its popularity. The President of the Collectivity Mr.Xavier Lédéé  told: “We must make sure that people who come to the island are coming because they like the island, not because they want to be seen on the island.”

We are happy to share with you key points of our discussion with Mr. Xavier Lédéé:

Planning your trip to Saint-Barthélemy this link is more than useful to be sure every detailis arranged and every question answered. The Territorial Committee of Tourism of Saint Barthélemy takes care of all the tourist activities of the island. For example events, activities, accommodation, restaurants, shopping and tourist spots. The CTTSB takes care of welcoming guests so that they would dream stay on the island of St Barth. 

The rich heritage of the island and the variety of event offerings: https://www.saintbarth-tourisme.com