Riot-stricken New Caledonia is empty of travellers. Businesses hope it can regain its place as a Pacific tourism jewel
Nouméa's beaches are empty of tourists after riots broke out in New Caledonia last month over electoral reforms. (ABC News: Nicolas Job)
Nestled between banana trees and palms on the outskirts of New Caledonia's capital, Anne Fonua's guesthouse and two tour buses sit empty.
Before civil unrest erupted in the French Pacific territory last month, her diary was filled with bookings from cruise ship passengers and other visitors arriving soon in Nouméa.
"Everything was cancelled," Ms Fonua said.
Blessed with pristine beaches, lagoons and coral reefs, New Caledonia was a jewel in Pacific tourism hoping to grow its share of Australian tourists.
Travel to the archipelago came to a startling halt in May, when violent turmoil broke out over French plans to add thousands of voters who have been in the territory for 10 years to electoral rolls.
It's a reform many fear will dilute the Indigenous Kanak vote in future referendums on independence.
Tourism operators wait in limbo — and in hope of a peaceful solution.
"We need to stay positive," said Gateaway Shore Tours guide Alfred Nauka, whose weeks are usually filled showing Australians and other tourists around New Caledonia.
"However, being here and actually seeing and facing and living through all that's going on since May, definitely doesn't help me in keeping a positive mindset."
His business was recovering after COVID border closures, before the deadly unrest began on May 13.
"We have lost the totality of our income since then," Mr Nauka said.
Frederic Ballo of Nouméa Turtle Tour, usually busy with tourists, has seen none for about 50 days.
"We hope and we do everything we can to continue. We're adapting day-by-day," he said.
New Caledonia's business and tourism groups say 41,000 bookings have been cancelled, and the halt has cost several billion francs in turnover.
Pro-independence protesters continue to erect road blockades, and unrest last week spread beyond the capital.
"Obviously we can't transport our clients in such conditions," Mr Nauka said.
He believes it will take years to rebuild New Caledonia, once peace returns.
"I don't see how our business can survive this."
'We need peace'
[YouTube New Caledonia unrest]
Four decades of peace opened New Caledonia as a destination for Australians seeking a tropical getaway.
It had been on Andrea Bold's bucket list for 30 years when she booked a family holiday there.
She was planning visits to the Isle of Pines and Nouméa in June, before she saw the territory's civil disorder unfold in the news.
Nine people, including two police officers, were killed as violence erupted over France's attempt to push through the electoral reforms.
More than 3,000 international visitors stranded in the tumult, including Australians, were evacuated from New Caledonia.
"We watched it for about a week, and it was very clear that things weren't going to get better quickly, so we made the decision to cancel the trip," Ms Bold said.
Qantas gave her a credit for the family's cancelled flights between Australia and Nouméa.
She hasn't been able to reach anyone in New Caledonia about refunding her domestic flights.
After waiting several weeks, her travel insurer agreed to pay her claim for money lost on cancelled bookings.
Ms Bold was saddened to see how cancellations had affected tourism businesses.
"They've lost their livelihoods in the space of a couple of weeks," she said.
New Caledonia will stay firmly on her bucket list, but she expects a long wait.
"I can't imagine when we would go. And from what I've heard, there's a lot of rebuilding to happen in Nouméa. There's a lot of burnt buildings."
Before the turmoil, New Caledonia's tourism was recovering from COVID border closures, receiving more than 125,000 international tourists and 340,000 cruise ship passengers in 2023.
Most of its recovery was driven by increases in Australian, New Zealand and French tourists compared to 2019.
But there was room to grow, and tourism was viewed as an important industry as New Caledonia looked to develop its economy outside nickel mining.
The territory drew 24,000 Australian tourists last year, half the number compared to neighbouring Vanuatu (51,000), and a fraction of the number visiting Fiji (390,000).
Mismy Daly, president of business group Mouvement des Entreprises de Nouvelle-Calédonie, said businesses were ready to invest in the industry before recent events crashed the economy.
There were plans to open a new five-star hotel in the Loyalty Islands, east of New Caledonia's main island.
"All of this has been put to an end by the unrest."
P&O Cruises Australia and Carnival Cruise Line have cancelled 10 visits to Nouméa between June and August, re-routing to Vanuatu.
Air New Zealand has paused flights to Nouméa until September, while Qantas and Fiji Airways have not announced when they'll resume services to New Caledonia.
New Caledonia's international airport partially reopened earlier this month, and the territory's international carrier, Air Calin, is operating a limited schedule of flights.
Tourism businesses, industry leaders and the government say New Caledonia is many months away from being able to host tourists.
In a recent survey, about 50 per cent of tourism operators said they believed they could resume business within three months if the unrest subsided.
A fresh surge in violence last week, after French authorities sent seven pro-independence activists to France for detention, may have dashed any hopes of a quicker return for tourism.
"For now, we don't feel safe. Mostly, it's complicated in New Caledonia to go from one place to another," Ms Daly said.
"We need peace. We need a political solution that is long lasting, that can guarantee that peace will be lasting as well."
Surviving, and hoping
In a bid to quell the unrest, France sent 3,000 troops and police to New Caledonia in May. Some hotels in Nouméa were requisitioned to accommodate the forces.
Other businesses are still looking for relief from the halt in tourism, and are concerned for their finances.
Debt repayments for a new bus weigh on Ms Fonua, who hopes her bank can give her some reprieve.
Erin Mattei, who operates La Belle Verte Canopy Tours, a zipline in Nouméa, believes she can continue her business if local people are able to visit.
"We survived the COVID crisis. I am going to do everything I can to keep our business open," she said.
Further north on New Caledonia's main island, Kiara Mediara, who operates Chez Élise guesthouse, is cooking with wood fires due to gas shortages.
"We're keeping our heads up and we're moving forward. I remain positive for the future of Kanaky," she said.
"I hope that things will calm down and that tourism will get back to what it was, because we like to share our knowledge and our culture with everyone."
But Ms Daly said the business community was concerned about the future of tourism operators outside Nouméa.
"We are pretty worried that for a long time, there will be no activity. And we are working closely with the French government to see if we can find ways to [keep] these companies living for the time being."
Tourism is only one of the industries devastated in New Caledonia's turmoil.
Ms Daly said the territory's unemployment was at 20 per cent, up from about 5 per cent before the violence erupted.
"We have lost most of our commercial distribution capacity in the Nouméa area," she said.
"Forty per cent of the food stores have been destroyed. Other commercial areas have been totally destroyed as well, the automobile sector, the industry sector in some areas.
"It's happened all of a sudden. And we need to figure out how we can manage the country now, in this new situation."
The electoral reforms have been suspended because of France's parliamentary elections, which begin today, and many in New Caledonia hope talks about a political solution to the unrest can start soon.
The territory's main tourism body, Nouvelle-Calédonie Tourisme, aims to have international visitors returning in the last quarter of 2024.
When it comes time to rebuild New Caledonia, Ms Daly said tourists will play a major part.
"We will be very happy to welcome tourism again," she said.
Ms Fonua said messages of support from her former customers have lifted her spirits during a dark chapter.
Her message for people overseas is to think positively about New Caledonia.
"Once things open up, I'm sure that a lot of tourists will come back in, because a lot of areas for tourism are not spoiled."