The distinction may be awarded by the Ministry of the Economy, it is in Saint-Denis that it was awarded.
Thursday evening, the entrepreneur Francis Dubrac received the gold medal of Tourism, from the hands of the president (PCF) of Plaine Commune Patrick Braouezec, during a ceremony organized at the town hall of Saint-Denis.
For 25 years now, the boss of the construction industry, a local figure, has chaired the tourist office, which was first that of the city of Saint-Denis before becoming an inter-municipal office.
18 employees
“It is a medal that recognizes the work of an entire team,” emphasizes Francis Dubrac. A team that works seven days a week, with 18 employees who speak several foreign languages. The office informs 1.5 M people per year, and goes off the beaten track, for example by promoting urban arts, such as Street Art Avenue [NDLR : parcours dédié aux fresques urbaines, de Paris jusqu’à Saint-Denis]. This is important, because tourism is not always a valued sector, but it is a source of income especially for the social and solidarity economy ”.
When he took over the reins of the structure in 1994, the territory of Saint-Denis “was emerging from 25 years of deindustrialization”: “We were at a crossroads. And then there was the Stade de France, the World Cup … ”Since then, the structure has grown, and has three reception points: one in the center of Saint-Denis, in the immediate vicinity of the basilica (which attracts 110,000 visitors each year), the second at the Stade de France and the third at the Saint-Ouen flea market (5 million visitors per year).
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