Tourism Conference
Paris, June 15, 2014
Q. – What’s the purpose of the Tourism Conference?
THE MINISTER – France can no longer rely on its heritage alone: its châteaux, its cathedrals, the Mediterranean coast etc. The 83 million visitors a year aren’t some kind of private income, because there’s tough competition with Spain, Italy and Britain. We must wake the Sleeping Beauty. The World Tourism Organization estimates that there will be another billion tourists in 2030. Attracting 5% of them would enable 500,000 jobs to be created. The economic recovery also involves tourism. We must gear our vision more to holidaymakers and adapt the offer to what a Chinese family or an American couple are looking for.
Q. – How can France be made more attractive?
THE MINISTER – We want to raise France’s profile through some 20 brands: Provence, Brittany, the Alps, Bordeaux, Chambord etc. Those are evocative names with an international sparkle. We must also modernize the offer, because tourists are increasingly looking for experiences. I’m thinking of areas like luxury goods, luxury crafts, gastronomy, wine tourism, the mountains and their pure air – sought after by the Chinese or people from the Gulf –, “slow tourism”, which encompasses eco-tourism, river cruises and, finally, trendy nightlife.
Q. – There are expectations of you on the digital sector. What’s your strategy?
THE MINISTER – We must be on the offensive. The digital sector’s not the Big Bad Wolf but an opportunity. French start-ups are the champions in creating mobile applications. New apps will give tourists a better grasp of our country. Their trips will run more smoothly. It’s also a goldmine in terms of exploiting marketing data on visits, purchases etc. France will be a pioneer of smartphone tourism. The state can encourage the major groups like Accor to cooperate with start-ups./.
