The 19 sea ports include marquee ports of Marseille, Nice and Toulon, as well as smaller destinations such as Bandol, Sanary, St Tropez, and Villefranche sur Mer, and also features six Rhone river ports such as Avignon, Aries and Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
Region Sud at Seatrade Cruise Med
Supported by the Cruise Clubs of Marseille-Provence, Var Provence and French Riviera, as well as Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Région Sud presented a new cruise marketing initiative at the recent Seatrade Cruise Med in Lisbon.
Anne-Marie Blum, manager Var Provence Cruise Club explained the thinking behind the initiative. ‘The French Med shores attracted 2.54m arrivals last year and this one territory, Région Sud, is clearly identified and so we are creating new shore excursions and themed programmes for cruise guests - wether repeaters or newcomers -and delivering a dedicated message internationally as well as worldwide marketing campaigns to promote the destination.’
Economic impact findings
To fully understand cruising’s impact on our territory a survey was conducted by French polling agency BVA and financed by the state and region which was carried out between June and October last year on a sample of guests arriving at 15 ocean and three river ports, explained Blum.
Key findings showed in Région Sud:
- Cruise generates Euros374m of combined direct, indirect and induced benefits including 2,460 jobs in 2017;
- 72% of ocean cruise and 90% of river cruise customers seek information (in print/digitally) on their itineraries prior to their cruise underscoring how tourist boards should direct and promote their destination;
- Half of the guests arriving on ocean ships where in the 21-50 year old age bracket;
- Three quarters of guests embarking a cruise in Marseille were national guests followed by Belgians and Germans while in Nice, the latter two, were replaced by US citizens.
- 55% of ocean guest and 61% of river cruise had selected their cruise depending on the ports of call;
- Two thirds of ocean cruise guests and 39% of river passengers intend to visit the destination during a future stay ashore.
One key target area for development is an opportunity for cruise lines to sell pre- and post stays in Région Sud stressed the team at Seatrade Med including Blum and Jean-François Suhas president of Marseille Cruise Club, Laurence Canazi president of Var Provence Cruise Club, Romain Wino, inbound traffic development Marseille Provence Airport, Pascale Hattemberg, president French Riviera Cruise Club and Anne-Sophie Peyran head of marketing, commercial and comms at French Riviera Ports.
Train and air connectivity
With an eye also on expanding home porting from Région Sud ports, which accounted for around 466,000 embarkations last year, Région Sud ports claim to offer the widest TGV network connections across Europe with 13 international cities including London, Brussels, Frankfurt and Madrid linked to Marseille, and beyond to Toulon and Nice, on a year round basis.
Wino explained that the region’s fast growing airports welcome over 22m visitors a year including 9m in Marseille, 13.2m in Nice and half a million at Toulon and long hual connections include New York, Montreal, Dubai and Las Reunion with more US and China routes to follow.
Looking towards the future, said Blum, Région Sud is aiming to grow inbound cruise business, expanding the shore excursion offering to experiences, sports, tasting and meeting the local community, and spreading cruise guests arrivals across the entire region preventing overtourism.
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