New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

 was "largely indifferent to tourists ... as long as nickel mining remained economically dominant" . After the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

 and Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

, world prices for nickel collapsed (1970s) and aggressive marketing campaigns were initiated for the territory.

Paris of the Pacific

Cheap tourist packages were offered to Australians promising the 'Paris of the Pacific' and visitor numbers increased from less than 5000 to 20,000 in just 5 years. . 37,000 tourists annually took cruises (mostly from Australia) and this allowed more hotels to be built in the 1970s and, in 1979, Club Mediterranee arrived. The tourist market had shifted by the 1980s from Australia to Japan which became the target of many tourism campaigns. .By 2007,about 100 000 tourists visits each year.