Be more adventurous – that is the message to the Middle East markets from France. Summer this year saw a 20 per cent rise in visitor numbers to France from the UAE, Qatar and KSA.
“By the end of the year we can expect to see a healthy growth rate. We have a varied range of products to offer Arab travellers and we now want them to explore, go beyond the very narrow limits of their stay areas which is Paris and the Riviera,” said Pascal Lepêtre, director, Maison de la France, Middle East, French Government Tourist Office.
“We have 22 regions in France and each one is different from the other- landscape, food, architecture, and even dialect. The one point we stop with is accommodation – we do not expect them to go to a place where the accommodation is not up to their standards,” he said.
France has some wonderful cities to the north he said, although some did not as yet have suitable accommodation facilities for the Arab traveller. Euro Disney was of course an exception.
“We currently have guests who stay for up to one week in Euro Disney. We want to encourage them to take this time to visit nearby cities. Easy access is also another point. Most of our international flights go into Paris; we are too centralized that way. I guess we don’t have exactly the same interest between the destination and the airline companies.”
Flights from the Middle East do go into Rome and Nice, and Lepêtre believes this offers tourists from the region great opportunity.
“Emirates was flying three times a week, Dubai-Rome-Nice, with a very small allotment for Nice. But starting December 1, the airline will fly five times a week non-stop. So, now we have to fill more seats and will soon start a promotion for travel agents and tour operators focusing on the French Riviera.”
Another markets ideal for Arab travellers is Lyon, described as a beautiful city with a lot of potential, mid-size good quality business hotels, offerings such as gastronomy, art, architecture, Roman heritage, museums and good shopping. Marseilles too has potential, offering an international airport, and in 2013 will be the cultural capital of Europe so this year the city will undergo some major infrastructural changes to make it more accessible.
Another market is Bordeaux for its vineyards and recently upgraded river front. Visitors tend to hail from the US and Europe, so the French Tourist Board is reaching out to the Middle East and India too.
The major “quality not quantity” markets from the Middle East are Saudi Arabia, followed by UAE, Kuwait and Lebanon. “The clients are one of the largest spenders in France, whether it is just for accommodation or other services or even shopping.”
About 12 million people come from the UK, about 10 million from Germany and about 3.5 million from the US, with between 350,000 to 500,000 visitors only coming from the Middle East.
Lepêtre spoke to our partners in the industry recently to establish the effects of the economic downturn and found there was not really a problem so far. “We will see now in the coming winter months if the trend is to slow down or to stay as it is.”
Major events for December are traditional Christmas markets in 35 cities. The oldest Christmas market, held for 431 years, is in Strasbourg, the capital of Alsace (open until December 31). Other notable markets are in the medieval towns of Kaysersberg, Colmar, Riquewihr and Selestat.
by Shalu Chandran