The latest UNESCO convention added 24 new properties to its renowned list this year, including sites linked to Nelson Mandela’s legacy in South Africa, a rainforest rock cave complex in Malaysia, and the ruins of a Swahili city in Kenya. However, few travelers have had the chance to experience Te Henua Enata (The Land of Men). This French Polynesian region comprises 12 islands, half of which are inhabited, and is home to about 9,000 people. The most populous island is Nuku Hiva, which CNN Travel explored in 2021.
To locate them on a map, look approximately 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) southeast of Hawaii and 4,700 kilometers (2,920 miles) east of Fiji. Due to its remote location, French Polynesia, including Bora Bora and Tahiti, received around 220,000 foreign tourists in 2022, with even fewer visiting the Marquesas. According to the Institute of Statistics for French Polynesia (ISFP), 10,995 tourists visited the Marquesas in 2023, accounting for less than 2% of the total travelers to Tahiti. Two-thirds of these visitors are French, which is understandable as the region is an overseas department of France. The US is the second-largest group of travelers, followed by China, Canada, Germany, and the UK.
