France

What is the profile of your business clientele? We cater for both sales staff and blue-collar workers who have travel packages at their disposal, and their bosses who appreciate the quality of our hotels, which are close to the higher categories, but at much lower prices. We have a very good market share in...

"Look at our territory: a green, mountainous, relatively compact island with a small population of less than 350,000. This could be a weakness. In fact, it's a real asset for tourism. These are the words of Daniel Charavin, Director General of the Corsican Tourist Agency...

Two brand launches, positive momentum in terms of both results and growth in the offering, and a new strategic vision to continue the upmarket efforts undertaken over the last three years: Best Western had an "extremely positive" year in 2017, according to Quentin Vandevyver, President of Best Western France. Firstly, because with a...

The Falcon X5 is dead, long live the Falcon X6. On 28 February, Dassault Aviation unveiled a new top-of-the-range business jet to replace the previous model, whose programme was abandoned just three months ago. Problems with the design of the engine developed by Safran led to the...

"A recovery everywhere, in all regions and for all categories": this is the assessment of the past year by Olivier Petit, Tourism, Culture and Hospitality partner at In Extenso. The firm estimates that revenue per room (RevPAR) in the French hotel industry grew by 3.9 % in 2017, with business mainly driven by the number of visitors...

To celebrate the opening of its 400th establishment, in Nanterre Rueil-Malmaison, B&B Hôtels has unveiled a new design that will be deployed in the budget hotel chain's future urban establishments. Designed by the interior and design architects at Agence Blanchet d'Istria, the concept is described by Vincent Quandalle, the group's managing director for France,...

At the end of last year you announced the forthcoming opening of a Spaces coworking space at La Défense. Can you tell us more about this project? Christophe Burckart - It's going to be the biggest coworking centre in France, one of the five biggest in the world, and naturally the biggest...

Every year, almost 12 million people visit 2,500 businesses in France to discover what goes on behind the scenes. Some of these companies have been awarded the "Living Heritage Company" label, a mark of recognition that the French government has introduced to distinguish French companies - whether craft or industrial - with outstanding expertise....

What is the importance of industrial tourism in your region? Yannick Le Magadure - It's the leading region in France for company visits, with 2.5 million visitors according to the 2013 "Entreprise et Découverte" survey. Three sectors of activity are particularly well represented: cosmetics, with the "locomotives" that...

Sri Lanka in 2019, the Seychelles in 2020, Vietnam in 2021 and, no doubt, other popular destinations for leisure travellers: Club Med, which is already present in 40 countries, is continuing to internalise its activities with the announced opening of three new resorts on idyllic beaches. The group intends to accelerate its growth in the coming years...

It was expected, but it is now a sure thing: Paris Orly will be the second base for Level, the long-haul low-cost airline launched in March 2017 by the IAG group, parent company of British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus. After starting operations at Barcelona El Prat last July, Level will offer flights to...

Report and photos by Florian Guillemin. If you've got an hour... The most energetic business travellers can discover the city at a brisk pace, with a jog along the banks of the Garonne, the loop between the Pont de Pierre and the Chaban Delmas bridge offering a pleasant 7 km route. For the...

Report and photos by Florian Guillemin. Bordeaux's eyes are wide open to a future that is still under construction. These days, the city is even verging on hyperactivity. Thanks to an ambitious renovation and development policy, the Aquitaine metropolis has become one of the most attractive cities in the world. The blonde stone has regained its lustre in...

Guillaume Pepy's argument for changing the name of the TGV offer to InOUI is to be one step ahead in terms of services in preparation for the opening up of mainline services to competition in 2020. The rebranding will take effect from 2 July, when the Summer on InOUI programme begins.

No longer called TGV, but InOui, the SNCF is abandoning a well-established name that has been virtually part of everyday language for almost forty years, in favour of a new brand identity that is both affirmative and positive. InOui joins OUIgo, OUIbus, OUIcar and soon OUI.sncf in the "yes" family, since to harmonise everything, the...

The Hôtel Martinez is always one of the glamorous landmarks of the Cannes Film Festival, the one that graces the pages of the celebrity magazines with its host of stars. To mark the 70th edition of the film festival, the Croisette hotel, which became a Grand Hyatt in 2013, is raising the...

Reported by Olivier Darmon, photos by Alain Parinet. DAY 1: Check-in at the hotel. Beach activities. Dinner at Pérard The hotel: Holiday Inn Resort [caption id="attachment_60361" align="alignnone" width="500"] Hôtel Holiday Inn Resort[/caption] On the edge of the forest, and less than ten minutes' walk from the centre of Le Touquet, the hotel stretches out under a vast...

The Hilton Group's development in France is no longer focused solely on its flagship brand. Patrick Fitzgibbon, senior vice president of development for Hilton, said: "Growing our portfolio in France is a strategic priority for Hilton. As part of this, the American hotelier's growth strategy now extends to its...

The reasons for cancelling a business meal at the last minute are as numerous as they are varied. Strikes, bad weather, terrorist risks, accidents or hospitalisation of the main speaker: to help companies deal with these imponderables, Business Table is launching cancellation insurance, the cost of which is calculated according to the amount of the insured event. For example, it...

Against a difficult backdrop, the Best Western group is doing better than expected in France. Although the average price of the company's establishments fell by a logical 5.331TP3Q, mainly due to the security risk which penalised France as a destination in 2016, the number of overnight stays generated by the central...