After seven years of uninterrupted growth, French Polynesia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) collapsed by 7.6% in 2020. GDP is the French equivalent of Gross domestic product (GDP). With the Covid crisis, the drop in activity in the tourism sector and the slowdown in household consumption are at the origin of this unprecedented collapse. This is the sharpest economic downturn since the 1960s.
A smaller decline than expected
However, experts thought that the decline would be greater. They had estimated it at 10%. These figures were published this week in Polynesia by the Institute of Statistics (ISPF). French Polynesia is the French overseas territory most affected by the Covid crisis. This decline in growth is comparable to that of metropolitan France (-7.9 points). The decline in the other overseas territories is between 3 and 3.5%. The sharp drop in Polynesia is explained by the importance of tourism in the economy.
A slight recovery in 2021?
The number of visitors has fallen by 67.5% over a year to 77,000 tourists, compared with 236,650 in 2019. However, there is reason for hope as experts believe that growth could be positive in 2021 (+2%) thanks to the recovery of tourism. The effectiveness of the vaccination campaign will play an important role in this economic recovery.
