The Tour de France offered historic visibility to the department of Ain this year. The public authorities see this as the success of their efforts to attract the event.
Everyone knows it: the Tour de France is a showcase. And the public authorities of Ain have understood this well. If the department has been particularly visible on the big loop this year, it is partly because local players have mobilized to attract it to their territory.
For this edition of the Tour de France, Ain offered itself an entire stage, on July 14, between Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne and Grand Collombier. A particularly striking stage of the tour, which attracted tens of thousands of spectators along the roads, and brought together 8.5 million viewers in France.
More broadly in the world, the media coverage is major: the tour stands out as the third biggest sporting event in the world, after the Olympic Games and the football world cups. It is broadcast in 190 countries instantly. A unique media coverage, the interest of which did not escape the president of the Departmental Council of Ain, Jean Deguerry. For this 100% Indian stage, he monitors the audiences: “we broke the peak tv audience record during the ascent of the grand dovecote. When you have nearly 200 countries watching you for 4 hours, that counts! And that has very significant economic benefits too, of course!”
The following week, back in Ain: the 18th stage, starting from Moûtiers, ends in Bourg-en-Bresse. Between 20 and 30,000 tourists landed in the city all day. A boon for traders. Most hotels are fully booked, and restaurateurs appreciate the renewed activity: “we are a fairly limited city in terms of tourism, compared to the Côte d’Azur for example… So at this time, it’s true that we see the difference, and we take it with great pleasure”, confides Clement Nallet, gfrom the Scarron. The city paid 130,000 euros to the organization of the Tour to be able to host the event, not to mention the costs related to logistics. For his part, thehe department paid €200,000 for the Indian stage. A very profitable investment, according to the evaluations of the organization, which estimate that 3 euros invested bring in 8 euros of commercial and tourist activities.
As the Tour de France ends, the public authorities of Ain do not intend to stop there. The Departmental Council has already proposed its candidacy to receive the tour again next year. The city of Bourg en Bresse hopes to host the women’s tour in 2024…
2023-07-22 14:55:28
#Tour #France #bargains #Ain #department
