New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a French special collectivity in the Pacific, in Melanesia. UN Tourism counted 130,000 international arrivals there in 2019, rarer than 91% of the 199 places with figures, so its stamp in Globestamp is printed in Prism.
- International arrivals
- 130,000in 2019, UN Tourism
- Rank by visitors
- 181st of 199most visited first
- Stamp finish
- Prismrarer than 91%
- Area
- 18,892 km² (7,294 sq mi)
- Population
- 288,000Natural Earth estimate
- Provinces
- 3in Globestamp’s regions layer
- Airports
- 11with scheduled flights
Does New Caledonia count as a country?
It depends on the list. New Caledonia is a French special collectivity in the Pacific, so it is not one of the UN’s 193 members, but Globestamp’s list of 250 countries and territories counts it on its own. The Travelers’ Century Club counts it as “New Caledonia & Dependencies (L'Île-des-Pins, Loyalty Islands)”.
| List | Counts New Caledonia? |
|---|---|
| UN member states (193) | No |
| Globestamp’s countries and territories (250) | Yes |
| Travelers’ Century Club (330) | Yes, as New Caledonia & Dependencies (L'Île-des-Pins, Loyalty Islands) |
| European Union | No |
| Schengen area | No |
New Caledonia belongs to France, but travelers usually count it on its own, because it has its own entry rules, its own flag or its own place on the map. Other places in the same family: French Guiana, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion and Saint Barthélemy.
The New Caledonia stamp
Every country in Globestamp has its own stamp, drawn after a real entry stamp. Its finish shows how few travelers get there. New Caledonia’s is Prism: the full spectrum with glints, the finish for places with 50,000 to 500,000 visitors a year. With 130,000 international arrivals in 2019, New Caledonia is rarer than 91% of the 199 places with figures. See every stamp on the stamp wall, or the rarest on the least-visited countries.
What counts as a visit to New Caledonia
The common rule among travelers is that you set foot there: an airport layover usually doesn’t count, and a port where you went ashore does. Globestamp counts New Caledonia when one of your photos was taken on its ground, or just off its coast; a photo taken from a plane never counts. Photos only at an airport make a transit stamp in lighter ink, counted only if you count layovers. Read more in how to count the countries you’ve visited.
Largest cities
| City | People (urban area) |
|---|---|
| Nouméa | 93,060 |
Airports
New Caledonia has 11 airports with scheduled flights, 1 of them large. Each is a dot on Globestamp’s airports layer, and every flight you log adds to how far you’ve flown (try the flight distance calculator).
3 provinces to fill in
Globestamp goes deeper than countries: its regions layer splits New Caledonia into 3 provinces (Natural Earth’s first-level divisions), and each one fills in when a photo was taken there.
All 3
Loyalty Islands · North · South
Questions people ask
Is New Caledonia a country?
It depends on the list. New Caledonia is a French special collectivity in the Pacific, so it is not one of the UN’s 193 members, but Globestamp’s list of 250 countries and territories counts it on its own. The Travelers’ Century Club counts it as “New Caledonia & Dependencies (L'Île-des-Pins, Loyalty Islands)”.
How many tourists visit New Caledonia a year?
UN Tourism (via the World Bank) counted 130,000 international arrivals in New Caledonia in 2019, the 181st most of the 199 places with figures. Countries count arrivals in different ways (some include day-trippers and cruise passengers), so treat it as a rough rank rather than an exact number of tourists.
How rare is a New Caledonia stamp in Globestamp?
It is printed in Prism, the finish for places with 50,000 to 500,000 visitors a year, rarer than 91% of the places with figures. The fewer travelers a place receives, the rarer its finish, from plain Ink to Mythic.
Does New Caledonia count for the Travelers’ Century Club?
Yes. The Travelers’ Century Club counts it as “New Caledonia & Dependencies (L'Île-des-Pins, Loyalty Islands)”, one of its 330 destinations.
Places as rare as New Caledonia
Near New Caledonia
Sources
- Countries, cities and regions: Natural Earth 10m admin-0 (public domain); lists as of October 2026.
- Visitors: UN Tourism via the World Bank, ST.INT.ARVL (International tourism, number of arrivals), CC BY 4.0, data updated 2026-10-08. Each country's latest year before 2020. Countries count visitors differently; use as a rough rank.
- World Heritage Sites, parks, landmarks and the bucket-list places: Wikidata (CC0), as compiled in the app, October 2026.
- Airports: OurAirports (public domain), airports with scheduled service.
- Travelers’ Century Club: the club’s list of 330 destinations, as of January 2022.