In a bid to attract more visitors to France`s overseas territories, Maison de la France has published a new brochure called The France of 3 Oceans.

From the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, to St Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic, Mayotte and La Reunion in the Indian Ocean, and New Caledonia and French Polynesia in the Pacific, France boasts 12 far-flung lands offering French art de vivre and hospitality combined with an exotic setting.

According to Christian Lepage, UK Director of Maison de la France: Our overseas territories are a niche market at present but certainly have the potential to grow. The destinations are magical and through their landscape, cuisine, local arts and music, have kept a distinct identity of their own. They reflect a unique blend of tradition and modernity together with a reassuring taste of France, making them ideal for Francophiles with asense of adventure.

As well as sun, sea and sand, overseas France is also a vast outdoor playground with activities such as volcano trekking in La Reunion, scuba diving off Guadeloupe and fishing in the lagoons of Polynesia. For nature lovers, there`s an important butterfly farm on the Caribbean island of St Martin or the many tropical flowers of Martinique. Wildlife enthusiasts can discover the unique species of lemur in Mayotte or dive among whales and mantra rays in Tahiti.

With the Euro now the currency in the majority of France`s overseas territories, except in the Pacific, making purchases and travelling around have become even easier since its introduction.

Air France operates regular flights via Paris to many of the 12 destinations and several UK tour operators such as French Expressions, Sunsail, Sunset Faraway Holidays and Club Med already feature one or more of the islands.

Of all the territories, Tahiti is the most likely to see a significant increase in UK tourists over the coming years. Several exciting new hotel projects are lined up including the opening this June of a five-star beach-front Radisson Resort with a state of the art spa.

A three-year agreement has recently been signed between Maison de la France and Tahiti Tourisme, aiming to increase the proportion of visitors to French Polynesia as well as the length of stay. In 2003, the number of UK visitors went up by an impressive 33%, from 5399 to 7204 individuals, with the average stay lasting ten days.

Visitor numbers to our overseas territories might be in the thousands rather than the hundreds of thousands, said Mr Lepage, but we`ve never really marketed most of them here before and are confident that there is an appetite for lesser-known destinations among British holidaymakers.