For year-round tourism in the South Region

Smiles François de Canson, president of the Regional Tourism Committee (CRT) of the South Region. And he has good reasons. 2022 was a historic year for tourism, even surpassing 2019, the reference year up until then. “In 2022 we have witnessed the return of international big names – Americans, Middle Easterners and Canadians – but also of the hitherto absent Britons, He explains. Spring was exceptional, summer very good, autumn kept its promises and we ended the year with excellent winter results. We recorded more than 30 million annual tourist visits and a turnover of over 20 billion in 2019″.

All the year

Another reason for satisfaction: “All the lights are green, which means 2023 looks promising despite the economic crisis. We have seen it with the French who have gone on holiday despite inflation.”

In support of his claims, the president of CRT Paca relies on steeply increasing booking rates in the hotel sector: +40% in January compared to the same period in 2022 and +50% in February.

2023 has several tricks up its sleeve. In this case, of the eleven public holidays, nine fall on a weekday, which suggests many bridges. “Especially when we know the craze for short stays of French clients, observe. The Rugby World Cup is also held in the autumn with ten matches taking place in the South Region, including four in Nice. Added to this is the Ironman in Nice, always at the beginning of the school year.

Many events that fall within the tourist promotion strategy throughout the year – and no longer in the summer months – desired by the CRT and the Southern Region. The Mediterranean Workshop which will take place in November in Toulon is along this line: “It aims to promote Provence in winter. We are targeting customers in the Mediterranean basin and are also launching a promotional campaign in North and South America.” with a particular focus on Brazil.

To these potential future tourists,”We will offer them the opportunity to discover our region all year round thanks to the development of the wine tourism, nautical, golf, artistic sectors… For example, we can disembark in Nice and visit the Maeght Foundation in Saint-Paul, then the Villa Noailles in Hyères to finish with the Mucem in Marseille or the Grotte Cosquer which has already welcomed 500,000 visitors. Nice, which has just won the Unesco label, is becoming the tourist resort of the Riviera in winter.”

As for the cold season, François de Canson underlined the excellent results of the mountains during the Christmas holidays with a hotel occupancy rate in the Southern Alps of 62%, +8% compared to 2022″.The snow that fell last weekend also guarantees that we will be able to ski in February”rejoices.

The return of Chinese tourists

2023 will also see the return of Chinese tourists who visit the region from January to October. “We need to put things in perspective.”, temper François de Canson. The 4th distant destination market for our area was served by one hundred weekly flights before the pandemic, compared to the current eight-ten flights and above all”we no longer cater to groups but to individuals with a rather urban clientele whose centers of interest are shopping, gastronomy and archaeology”.

The Chinese love the Romanesque art that is very present in the area, postcard landscapes such as the lavender fields of the Valensole plateau.

“Little story, he continues, reading the book The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas is compulsory during school and therefore they want to come to Marseille at all costs to visit the Château d’If” which, together with the Mucem and the Cosquer Caves, forms the golden triangle.