Paris Ile-de-France, the country's leading tourist destination, is also the one that has suffered the most from the impacts of the health crisis. The destination has embarked on a communication and promotion plan since 2020, to prepare and anticipate the recovery of the activity. With this in mind, the region and its partners are also deploying a real estate fund with the aim of accompanying and financially supporting public and private stakeholders in strategic sectors, including the tourism industry. Christophe Decloux, Managing Director of the Paris Region Tourism Committee, Olivier Pagézy, Managing Director of IDF Investissements & Territoires and Marc Rigaud, Director of Tourism at IDF Investissements & Territoires presented the tools developed by the local authority to support the sector.
As part of its recovery plan, the Paris Ile-de-France Regional Tourist Board has conducted a joint promotional campaign with other tourism stakeholders (departments, tourist offices, etc.), through the Paris Region brand. The stakeholders have agreed on a single "Paris is yours" campaign, including the broadcasting of an advertising film.
To anticipate the breakdown's end and post-Covid recovery, the CRT organised its events programme and took stock of the region's hotel and leisure offer. Thus, one of the region's major challenges is to revive business tourism, which represents 50% of the region's overnight stays, but also leisure tourism, with internationals as well as customers from the Paris region. Indeed, 79% of the region's visitors are repeaters. With the opening of the borders, the region has seen a slight return of international customers, with 10% of Americans in particular. Christophe Decloux, Director General of the CRT PIDF, stressed the importance of relying on local customers:
There is no over-tourism in Ile-de-France, there are sometimes waiting times at the Louvre, at the Eiffel Tower, and perhaps at Versailles a few times a year. Our geographical perimeter is very important, so the role of the CRT is to get people off the beaten track, it's up to us to suggest to the visitor to go and see something else, and above all to manage the regulation of the flow. Today, when you go to see a monument or a site, you have to make an appointment to book your visit in advance. It is up to us to propose a typical day so that the visitor has a new experience, the customer experience is key. This customer experience also involves the regulation of flows.
On the investment side, a real estate subsidiary dedicated to tourism was recently set up, supported by the Investments & Territories sector of the Île-de-France region. This is the result of a parapublic reflection, between the Île-de-France region (55.4%), the Caisse des Dépôts (26.1%), the CCI Paris Île-de-France (7.7%), the Caisse d'Epargne Île-de-France (7.7%) and the Crédit Mutuel Arkéa (3.1%). The aim of the tourism section is to invest in innovative projects, helping public and private stakeholders by supporting them on the investment side. The real estate company, which operates in various sectors, is dedicating an investment of 220 million euros between now and 2025, half of which will be allocated to tourism.
In co-investment with the Banque des Territoires, the principle of the tourism section is based on support for stakeholders, particularly owners in difficulty, through the temporary assumption of responsibility for the carrying of the premises, with an option to resell the premises to the operator ("sale and lease back" operation with a buyback option). Its projects may concern the creation of hotels or outdoor accommodation, the conversion of historic sites, the creation of leisure sites for river tourism, theme parks, or the conversion of industrial wasteland. Geographically, the region favours the middle and outer suburbs. This real estate company also makes it possible to intervene in so-called "risky" projects or those that have been abandoned before or after the Covid.
