
Tourism professionals are gathering today at the InterContinental Paris Le Grand for the third edition of Tourinvest, the Forum intended to stimulate investment in the tourism and hospitality industries. This year it will touch on the theme of "Major events and Innovation: driving forces of tourism investment".
9:00: Introduction by Christian Mantei, CEO Atout France
"The year 2015 will most certainly be an excellent year. We will surpass 85 million tourists."
"France is among the top 10 countries for investment and ranks 8th."
"Beyond financial capacities, it is necessary to stimulate projects with realistic concrete investments that are feasible."
9:15: Intervention by Phillipe Maud'hui, Atout France
"The growth vector for tourism in France has been international for several years."
"Nights in France rely on a European base. This has an impact on French tourism."
"The evolution of international arrivals is correlated to hotel investment."
"There are negative elements. The hotel supply on an international scale with beach resort and mountain destinations on a national scale have not experienced growth in their supplies, unlike urban areas."
— Hospitality ON Fr (@HospitalityONfr) 5 Novembre 2015
9:45 - Master Class: The impact of the strategy of investments related to organizing a global event on a tourism destination
René Collin, Minister of tourism, Walloon
"Mons is the European Capital of Culture in 2015"
"There are more than 800 companies that are members of the business club MONS 2015"
"We now have hotels established and new structures with a convention center"
"Just participating in this federating strategy has provided results"
"63 million euros were recently unblocked by Europe and Walloon to make it perennial"
Bruno Goval, Manager tourist office Lille
"Applying to be European Capital of Culture has advanced us two years in terms of communication"
"2004 was a real success and we wanted to continue with Lille 3000"
"Nights increased by 3 to 4% in recent years."
"There was real cohesion. Everyone uses Lille 2004 as a reference."
François Navarro, general manager Regional Committee Paris Ile-de France Tourism
"Of course we need a big event. We need to inspire an urgent need to come to our destination"
"Ile de France tourism represents 500k jobs and 21 billion milliards in economic windfall, if we miss out on a major event, it means missing out on jobs and revenues for the region."
"Everyone believes travelers are not made welcome in Paris and it's not true!"
"Paris has a chance, it has 150k rooms. We have what it takes to organize this type of major event."
"Central Paris is beginning to be saturated. We don't need to host more visitors, but host them better."
"The Olympics means Ile de France and Expo France 2025 expands to major regional cities."
"Expo France 2025 represents 25 billion in revenues. It's a greater concern than the Olympics 2024."
11:30 - Intervention by Vanguélis Panayotis, director MKG Group:
The real impact of the sharing economy on accommodations in France
"2 million rooms/keys available in France in 2015"
"Abritel, leading competitor of AirBnB, means 165,091 accommodations, 396,900 rooms and 1.032 million beds in France."
"AirBnB and Abritel implement every type of accommodation possible to increase the profitability of rooms."
"50% of AirBnB apartments are in France's biggest cities"
"Supply up by +3% per annum, AirBnB and Abritel have created supply in recent years."
"There is a need for new products and Abritel and AirBnB are not the ones who will make suggestions to the hotel industry"
12h - Master Class: Do technological innovations and the appearance of new hybrid concepts fully meet customer needs and expectations?
Nicolas Capelle, Director development Europe Meininger Hotels
"Our hotels are developed around common areas; it is much more than a classic hotel.
"There is a lot of interaction with clients who generally have fond memories of this experience."
"It is probably one of the most flexible products."
Hans Meyer, Co-founder Zoku
"We began with people and built our concept around them."
"80% of our staff are young people because they are the target of our product."
"How to find smaller spaces and use them efficiently: that is the question we ask ourselves"
"We have always tried to have a product that is balanced for both the consumer and the investor"
"Now that we have seen that innovative concepts can generate revenues and a good return on investment it is less difficult to get financing and to convince investors."
Gaël Le Lay, Deputy ceo Foncière des Murs
"It is important to stand beside innovative products"
"Meininger Hotels has a strong capacity for innovation, they are able to adapt themselves in terms of development.
Julien Routil, Directr and Co-founder Slo Living Hostel
"The first observation was that there is a shortage of economy hotels for young travelers"
"We opened our first youth hostel in Lyon, where there was a real shortage on this segment."
"We decided to use our experiences as urban travelers and transpose the values of Slo Travel"
"We will undertake a development strategy on French territory for the next five years."
12:45pm - Georges Panayotis concludes
"The concepts are much stronger than they once were because they are innovative and innovation respond to a social phenomenon"
"Hoteliers must return to the game by trying to take advantage of these innovations."
Also read:
- Tourinvest Forum 2014: "Creation of new tourism supply, finding real estate and financial partners: who can succeed?"
- Does the value of hotels still rely on fundamentals?