Marseilles enters the big game

Marseilles is fashionable. And, it is expressing a desire to impose itself more than ever on the Mediterranean area like its distant neighbour, Barcelona. It must be said that the two cities share the same cultural dynamics as major cosmopolitan ports in the South. And yet their frequency in terms of visitors and their strategy have nothing in common. The Phocean City has come a long way. The previous mayor who began Marseilles’ economic blossoming, Gaston Deferre, preferred to bank on industry and commerce to develop the city. Inversely its neighbours on the French Riviera did not deprive themselves of developing an entire sales pitch to seduce holiday goers and business travellers. There was a flagrant imbalance, and it took until the end of the eighties to see Phocean tourism enter a structuring phase.The Phocean City’s rise in power in economic and tourism terms is evidently only at its onset. The project of national interest, “Euroméditerranée”, whose goal is to make the city into a top ranking European metropolis, should generate from 15,000 to 20,000 jobs, 10,000 additional habitants, 600,000 sq.m of offices, 400,000 sq.m of lodging, as well as overall regeneration of neighbourhoods, commerce and public services. All this by 2010. Finally, if Paris should win the right to host the Olympic Games in 2012, Marseilles would host some of the major competitions, with the opportunity to reinforce the city’s international radiance as the keystone. Thus the need to outfit itself with infrastructures that are up to par with the city’s charisma is vital. The city proved that it could mobilise itself by postulating for the Americas Cup. In the competition to host this event, the city’s dossier was not missing much with respect to its rival Valencia, which was backed by the King of Spain. Perhaps it was...