You have been director of the GMVA Tourist Office since March 2024. What impressions do you keep from your first summer?
I feel privileged to be able to work with the team to promote this incredible territory. We must be up to the task, to have a lot of ambitions because the territory imposes it on us.
The results of the tourist season have been drawn up this winter. Why so late?
During the All Saints' Day holidays, the weather can still be nice and families travel. Every vacation has a place for tourism. During the Christmas holidays, we saw an increase in attendance in the Vannes office, notably with the Christmas market which was a great success. It's not us who organize it, but whether it's the merchants' association or the City, we relay their program of festivities. We were an important vector.
Coming back to this summer, how do you analyze the 4% drop in attendance compared to 2023?
The elections at the beginning of July, rainy weather, declining purchasing power and shorter stays explain this drop. But we put things into perspective because it brings us back to pre-covid attendance. August was better than July, with a few fine days and peaks in attendance in the Gulf of Morbihan. Across all offices, we welcomed 525,000 people this summer and we recorded three million connections to our website, an increase of 30% compared to 2023. We can be satisfied, but tourism is not a given. All stakeholders in the region continue their commitment and efforts towards responsible tourism.
On this subject, you say you are taking a strong digital shift. What does it consist of?
We must now work on the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) common thread. Visitors will still be able to leave with a map and magazines, but we have optimized the number of impressions, which has allowed us to control our budgets to finance the digital strategy. Since last summer, we have been the first tourist office in France to integrate AI into our digital travel diary, 100% personalized and updated in real time. We also have our mascot Erwan who facilitates the pre-reception work during periods of high attendance. He carries maps or magazines, glasses of water on his back when it is very hot. It makes people smile, it’s also a good excuse for communication between them. We will continue to evolve in this direction. The tourist office must be a place of life in the territory, all year round, where tourists and locals come together. We also want to go outside the walls. For several months, we have had a stand on Wednesdays on the Vannes market. We want to be where the people are.
-Through this Convention Bureau, we want to work on business tourism. Seminars, conventions and other congresses will allow you to discover and work on our territory outside of holidays. These people may also want to come back later with their family and friends. This Convention Bureau will represent very significant economic benefits.
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