IFTM Daily 2018 - Day 3 Edition

14 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW / ENTRETIEN EXCLUSIF
VISITORS TO NOUVELLE-
AQUITAINE APPRECIATE THE RANGE
OF 100% AUTHENTIC EXPERIENCES
AVAILABLE TO THEM
Michel Durrieu
Director General of Tourism, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Directeur général du Tourisme, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Spotlighting Nouvelle-Aquitaine
France’s largest tourism destination boosts promotion to national
and international markets
Nouvelle-Aquitaine is the second most popular destination for the
French and is third on the list for foreign visitors. We spoke to Michel
Durrieu, the region’s Director General of Tourism and started by
asking him about how Nouvelle-Aquitaine performed in 2017.
Nearly 28 million tourists visited the
region in 2017. Our destinations
and sites have achieved exceptional
results: air arrivals of foreigners were
up 8% and there were attendance
records for Lascaux and the Cité du
Vin. The well-known destinations in
the region of Bordeaux, the Dordogne
Valley, Biarritz-Basque Country, and the
Pyrenees, promote gastronomy, culture,
breathtaking natural landscapes and
innovative and unique experiences.
What are your short and medium-term
goals?
Nouvelle-Aquitaine has the assets to
become the #1 destination of French
travellers. The goal is also to position
the region for international tourists, just
behind Paris and the Côte-d'Azur. While
28 million French and foreign tourists
visited Nouvelle-Aquitaine in 2017, the
30 million tourist mark will be quickly
exceeded. But it is also very important
to look at the income and jobs created.
Exceeding €16bn in revenue and
creating more than 40,000 jobs by
2020 seems realistic.
Why should travel agents from all over
the world recommend your region to their
customers in priority?
Several international rankings already
recognise the tourist attractions of
the regional destinations. The city of
Bordeaux, a UNESCO World Heritage
Site, has been recognised as “European
Best Destination”, number two of the
must-see cities according to the New
York Times and ranked highly as a city
by Lonely Planet.
On the Atlantic coast, Conde Nast
Traveller has selected the Ile de Ré,
Cap-Ferret and Biarritz as “Best seaside
destinations in France and Europe”. The
region has no less than nine UNESCO
World Heritage sites.
Visitors to Nouvelle-Aquitaine
appreciate the range of 100% authentic
experiences available to them. You
can take a cooking class with a local
chef, go to the market with him or her
and taste your creation; participate
in the harvest with a winemaker or
introduce yourself to the truffle hunt in
the Dordogne.
You can also explore the region in
a different way by following 4,200
kilometres of cycle routes, taking surf
lessons along the 720 kilometres of
coastline, or improving your swing on
one of our 81 golf courses.
To what extent is the international stature you
acquired in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs an
asset for the Nouvelle-Aquitaine CRT and for
travel agents?
My knowledge of the world of
international tourism, I owe it first of
all to my experience of more than 20
years in the biggest global groups of
the tourism sector as Executive Director
Spain, Latin America and Mediterranean
area of Carlson Wagonlit Travel,
Director Marketing & e-business at TUI
Spain and Managing Director Spain
and International Director of the Internet
subsidiary of Nouvelles Frontières.
When I arrived at the French Ministry
of Foreign Affairs in 2014 – a ministry
that also deals with tourism policy – it
was to develop the new strategy of the
‘Destination France’.
That experience has given me a lot
in my understanding of the global
CLEVER TRAVEL IDEAS
IN NOUVELLE-AQUITAINE
The French region has commissioned
a comprehensive SMARTguide by
Cleverdis (publishers, amongst others,
of IFTM Daily), launched in March 2018.
Underlining the emergence of France’s
biggest region as an international tourist
destination, the SMARTguide reveals a
land of great experiences in an exceptional
variety of locations. It is available from
the tourism council or online on
www.hotelandtourismonline.com
(click on “publications”)
issues related to the development of
this sector of activity both in terms of
value creation and jobs. My seat as
Permanent Representative of France to
the World Tourism Organisation also
allowed me to weave a great deal of
links with our partner countries and
to affirm France’s place as the world’s
leading tourist destination.
With all this experience, I am now
focused on making Nouvelle-Aquitaine
better known for its destinations of
exceptional wealth. The challenge
is big! Larger than Austria and more
populated than Denmark, the region
has ambition
IFTM Daily • Thursday 27 th September 2018
www.iftmdaily.com