Updated on 16 October
It's certainly not a good time for major projects. And yet, the Futuroscope has just unveiled a vast development plan with the ambition of creating a veritable resort covering more than 22 hectaresThe project will also have an environmental focus. Supported by all the partners - Compagnie des Alpes, the Vienne département and Caisse des Dépôts - Banque des Territoires - the investment amounts to €300 million over 10 years, two-thirds of which will be spent before 2025.
Naturally, the focus is on leisure and short-stay tourism, with three major new attractions on the programme, an indoor water park expected in 2024, new experiences and the creation of a themed hotels. The space-themed Station Cosmos, with 76 rooms, will open its doors in spring 2022, while an unusual and ecological site with 120 lodges with terraces will be available from 2023.
Nevertheless, Futuroscope, which is promoting its 30 years' experience in the creation oftailor-made events for businesses, will also have a new asset when it comes to organising conventions. While the theme park currently has five modular meeting areas that can accommodate between 20 and 750 people, it will see its offering greatly expanded when the following facilities open in spring 2022 Arena FuturoscopeThis is an amphitheatre that seats 1,372 in seminar configuration and 6,075 in concert mode.
This new venue will join the congress centre opened some fifteen years ago. Mainly dedicated to business meetings, this space hosts around a hundred corporate events each year in its three 150-, 300- and 1,500-seat amphitheatres and its 17 sub-committee rooms, all complemented by the direct proximity of 600 hotel rooms and a total of 2,000 rooms in the wider area.
" With the construction of this new Arena, Futuroscope is moving towards the convention centre part of the project, which means that we will no longer be doing just the convention centre part.a single sitesays Danielle Castan, General Manager of the Futuroscope Convention Centre and Arena. Thanks to this large, modular venue, we will be able to target conventions with between 2,000 and 2,500 participants, while still having the flexibility to adapt to the needs of our customers. hotel capacity to welcome them with two new establishments. As the Palais des Congrès is an 80% shareholder in the company that manages the Arena, we will be able to control the entire business tourism offering, without any foolish competition, and offer the venue that best suits each type of event. "
With the first applications for 2022-2023 starting to come in, the Arena is expected to open in 2022 under the following conditions undoubtedly more clement skies for the MICE market. Like the rest of the industry, the Poitiers convention centre has not escaped the current slump. " When Paris catches a cold, we sneeze too, remarks the director of the Palais des Congrès. We expect our sales to fall by 50 % over the year. "
Implementing strict health protocols is not enough to win the confidence of organisers. " Under pressure from participants, who are reluctant to travel, and exhibitors, who are afraid of losing money in the face of a smaller audience, half the organisers choose to postpone their event. At the end of the year, a number of congresses were maintained, but around thirty events have been postponed. And when things do go ahead, the events are in downgraded mode, with 30 % to 50 % fewer participants, and no festive evenings. "says Danielle Castan, who is not giving up hope: " When things pick up again, activity will quickly return to good levels. Meetings on Teams and Zoom are great for helping out, but not for sitting in front of a computer for two days. You don't get the same kind of attention, let alone the same level of conviviality. "
