Growing tourism
The archipelago experienced a crisis in the early 2000s, leading to the closure of several hotels. Then, in 2009, social unrest brought the island's economy to a virtual standstill for 44 days. Tourism suffered a significant decline. In recent years, the tourism sector had been enjoying an upturn, until the health crisis brought it to a halt. Since then, the archipelago has slowly returned to its pre-crisis level, thanks in particular to travelers' strong attachment to the destination, which often ranks among the Top 10 most popular winter destinations.
Over the years, labor disputes have fuelled a negative image of service quality. The Comité du Tourisme's efforts to communicate the importance of the tourism economy are bearing fruit: the population and employees in the sector are aware of the situation. And visitors are delighted! Some 85% of leisure tourists and 94% of business visitors plan to return. Caribbean cruises also bring many tourists to the archipelago. The island is home to two types of cruise: transit cruises, where the ship only makes a one-day stopover, and cruises departing from Guadeloupe. Over the years, the island has established itself as an essential stopover. Two companies, MSC and Costa, dock at Pointe-à-Pitre, Basse-Terre or Les Saintes. Guadeloupe welcomed 355,000 cruise passengers during the 2023-2024 season. Guadeloupe airport broke its record in 2019, welcoming just over 2.4 million passengers. The airport hopes to reach 3 million passengers by 2025, despite the health crisis and the general increase in ticket prices.
The economic weight of the agricultural sector
Guadeloupe's economy is based on traditional sectors such as tourism (11% of GDP), agriculture, agro-processing and fishing. Other growth sectors are gaining in importance, such as renewable energies, construction in tropical environments, waste, water, sanitation, digital, communication, cultural and creative industries, as well as personal services and the "silver economy" with the aging of the population.
Imports of goods and products here are much higher than exports. The archipelago's historical sugarcane and banana crops account for the bulk of European Common Agricultural Policy subsidies. While rum export sales continue to grow, Guadeloupe bananas are struggling to hold their own against international competition. Exports fell by 23% in 2023. Production vulnerable to increasingly threatening weather conditions. Faced with these various pressures, producers are organizing and pooling their efforts to stand out from the crowd.
In addition, many farmers in the archipelago are trying to return to a more traditional and sustainable mode of production, such as agroforestry or a return to the Creole garden as in the days of the ancients... The aim is to move away from imported products, which are often expensive and have a larger carbon footprint, and to move towards food self-sufficiency. Eggplants, zucchinis, tomatoes, squash, avocados, spirulina, oyster mushrooms, melons, sweet potatoes, coffee, cocoa, vanilla... Yes, all these products grow in Guadeloupe!
Other important but fragile economic sectors
Commerce is the main sector of activity in Guadeloupe. Public administration, health, education and social action employ many Guadeloupeans (37% of jobs in 2023). The importance of public administration dates back to departmentalization in 1946 and the opening up of recruitment in the 1960s-1970s. Public service was then presented as a "republican ideal", but the recruitment of Hexagonians to hierarchically high positions and the departure of Guadeloupeans to France to be recruited there, encouraged tensions.
The construction sector is also an important part of Guadeloupe's economy, with over 7,500 employees in 2023, working mainly on public works, roads and other networks. At half-mast since 2014, the construction and public works sector has shown signs of recovery since 2018, with orders for major projects (construction of the new university hospital and airport extension). But the health crisis, rising raw material prices and labor shortages have slowed activity. The sector is also having to reinvent itself to reduce its carbon footprint and adapt to new environmental construction standards.
Directly linked to the hotel-restaurant sector, the fishing industry, already in difficulty, was severely impacted by the health crisis. A difficult period that highlighted the lack of infrastructure and the aging fleet. Over the past few years, local authorities and European subsidies have tried to address these issues. Despite this, the sector is still in the throes of restructuring, and is now having to cope with rising fuel prices, the increasing scarcity of fish and the profession's lack of appeal to young people.
Political structures
While the regions of France are made up of several départements, the overseas regions have a mono-départemental structure, i.e. the same territory is both a département and a region. Both councils are based in Basse-Terre, the administrative capital of Guadeloupe.
The Guadeloupe Regional Council has been led since 2015 by Ary Chalus, under the colors of GUSR (Guadeloupe Unie Solidaire et Responsable), who was re-elected in June 2021. Since that same date, the Departmental Council has been chaired by Guy Losbar, president of the GUSR. For a long time, the question of merging the Conseil départemental and the Conseil régional into a single collectivity divided Guadeloupe's elected representatives. But since the 2021 elections, Ary Chalus and Guy Losbar have been working openly to prepare the transition. Martinique and French Guiana became "collectivités uniques" in 2015.
