The French tourists on the limelight
February 23, 2010 by Isabelle du Plessix
From March 2010, Visit Indonesia, after decades of absence, has finally decided to promote its beautiful and diversified country to the French market via a partnership with GTI Tourism. France seems to no longer be at the European bottom of the list, behind the UK and German market.
Indeed, number of French Travellers are still growing in many foreign countries whereas British and German markets are dramatically declining. According to the DGCIS, more than 26% of them travelled abroad, totalling 20,5 millions in 2008. Even the length of stay increased. In Indonesia, for example, the growth of French tourists exceeds 28% compared to 2007. Both German, UK and even Dutch markets declined.
Thus, France has been recently held in higher regard by some destinations from all over the world. Texas, Estonia, Peru and Colombia, to name a few, have set up a partnership with representation offices in France to promote their destination to the French trade and media. This is the usual first step to get familiar with the market. Let's make sure this is a long term strategy as it takes always time for the French to discover a new destination. They need long term relationships to be reassured... But once the path is mapped for them, their loyalty remains.
