The Country’s Revival Offers New Opportunities for Travel Sellers

According to the speakers at this year’s annual Rendez-Vous France (RDV), held in Strasbourg in May, one of the biggest impacts on French tourism is making its debut this month: the high-speed TGV Est (East).

“RDV is here this year to hail the arrival of the TGV East in June,” said Fabienne Keller, the mayor of Strasbourg, as he welcomed delegates to the event. “This ultra-high-speed train will connect Paris to Strasbourg in only two hours, 20 minutes, and also provide service to central Europe.”

Indeed, the TGV Est made headlines in April when it broke the world rail speed record. When the train starts service to eastern France on June 10, it will transform travel to Alsace, Champagne and Lorraine. Many tour operators attending RDV said they are planning to introduce programs to this area in 2008. At the same time, the new high-speed train route will also transform travel to Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg. “The TGV will alter Europe’s geography,” says Guillaume Pepy, CEO of French National Railroads.

Maison de la France (MDLF), the French government tourism office in the Untied States, also is focusing marketing and communication efforts on Alsace, Burgundy (also served by the TGV) and Champagne, which have nicknamed themselves the “ABCs.”

France remains the world’s most popular destination, with 78 million visitors in 2006. It is the second most popular European destination for American travelers. “American travel to France has recovered completely from the 15 percent reduction of 2003 that resulted from the Iraq war,” says Thierry Baudier, managing director of MDLF. “This January we saw a 17.7 percent increase in U.S. visitors, which puts us close to the record year of 2000, when we had 3.5 million American arrivals. Americans are already the biggest spenders, at 4.5 billion euros ($5.9 billion) last year.” Not surprisingly, Paris is the country’s most-visited destination by Americans.

Jean-Philipe Perol, director of MDLF in the Americas, credits the revival, in part, to his office’s marketing efforts. “We invest in a lot of Internet advertising,” Perol says. That Internet marketing campaign includes daily email blasts sent in coordination with regional and hotel partners, as well as with Air France and online banners. MDLF runs ads in such major newspapers as The New York Times, Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune, and in travel magazines. It is also marketing to the trade with workshops and seminars, and to the press with luncheons and other events. It is increasing the number and type of events that include the public, such as popular French Tuesdays, Francophile parties held in cities around the United States.

“This year we are trying to give a new image of France in our marketing,” says Perol. “We want travelers to see France as a place they have to go now: a trendy place, a place where they’ll have fun. Whenever you go to our home page or look at one of our ads, there are people smiling and having a good time, or doing something romantic.” For example, Perol says, France wants to show the experience of enjoying wine as a fun thing to share with people you love – not something dry and humorless. “This is important because our research shows that we have the image of a place where people do not have fun, a place that you have to go to because it’s important,” Perol says. “We don’t want that image.”

The campaign seems to be succeeding. France once again is a much easier sell, according to major tour operators who are seeing impressive growth in their bookings to the country this year. “The big story is that business to France is booming,” says Tom Armstrong, corporate communications manager for Tauck World Discovery.

Classic France itineraries and destinations also still attract the broad American market. “The French Riviera has plenty of appeal,” says Melissa Famiglietti Snipe, vice president of product at Collette Vacations. “We are seeing more single hotel stays there, with clients using the Riviera as a hub to visit the area. There’s also a trend toward longer stays in the Provence countryside, as well as in Paris. A highlight circuit tour is very popular, as is a combined stay in Paris and London.” Adds Jennifer Halboth, manager of channel marketing for the Globus family of brands, “For our customers, Paris is the linchpin, the reason they go to France. They also enjoy seeing the rest of France.”

Tour operators have observed several trends in travel to France. “The customers we send to France are mostly Baby Boomers, and they’re looking for something fresh and cosmopolitan that they can’t get in the U.S,” says Kirk Klaasesz, reservation sales and training manager at Certified Vacations, company behind Delta Vacations and Continental Airlines Vacations. “Half are first-timers, and for them we do a lot of hand-holding. They are looking for us to help them decide what to do. Some of our steadfast customers are repeat visitors, and they’re looking for new places to discover in France.”

Gianni Miradoli, senior vice president of Central Holidays, says that some popular monuments are now offering more that the usual visit. “For example, at the Castle of Chantilly,” he says, “groups can have a private evening tour with dinner and a visit to the stables. In the Riviera, some gardens are offering tours that demonstrate how the flowers are grown for perfume.” Another trend, say Miradoli, is a marked increase in family travel, with parents bringing along children as young as 6 years old.

Villa rentals in France are a growing trend in the luxury market, according the Pamela Lassers, spokeswoman for Abercrombie & Kent. “We see more and more people renting a villa in Provence or on the Riviera for a couple of weeks, and inviting friends and family to join them,” she says. “It’s become so popular that we’ve just opened an office in the south of France.”

RDV attracted many special-interest operators, with appealing niche products for sale. Given France’s well-deserved reputation as the pinnacle of superb food and wine, there are a number of culinary tours on the market. For clients who crave a hands-on food experiences, Epiculinary arranges programs for groups and individuals, offering cooking classes and visits to local markets, farms, wineries and chefs.

For clients who want to attend the Tour de France in July, with VIP access to some events, France-based Cyclomundo, an official tour operator for Tour de France, has packages suitable for bikers and non-bikers. And for those who want to bike France’s lovely country roads, the company offers a range of cycling tours, including self-guided or escorted, group or individual, and customized biking vacations. “Most of the properties we choose are family run, ranging from actual farmhouses, to converted B&B homes and chateaux, to wine-making estates, to small hotels,” says Founder Bruno Toutain. Cyclomundo works with agents on a commission basis for published tours, and gives a net euro price for customized tours.

The company routinely works with U.S.-based agents. MDLF’s useful “EZ Reference Guide,” a directory of packages, tours and travel services, also lists several other tour operators offering culinary and biking trips.

Major events in France also attract travelers seeking a special experience in the country. Perol says there are two milestone events of great Franco-American importance this year. France will open the Normandy Cemetery Visitor Center on June 6, the 63rd anniversary of the D-Day landings. This year is also the 250th anniversary of the birth of a hero shared by France and the United States: Marquis de Lafayette, who fought in the American Revolutionary War.

Getting to France from the United States also will be much easier. In May, Air France launch a new early morning flight from New York to Paris. In June, it opens its new gateway in Seattle. Passengers flying into Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport over the next year will find Terminal 2E, where U.S. flights arrive, under renovation. This situation should improve by summer, when the revamped terminal opens with more jetways. By the end of the year, the airports plans to open more gates; the renovation is slated to completed by spring 2008.