Attractiveness of Perpignan: 50% fewer visitors to the Rigaud museum, drop of one million euros in revenue from the convention center and exhibition center

“Radiant Perpignan”. Really ? The question of attendance in the city arises after reading the report of the advisory commission for local public services. This committee, which meets annually, reports on the accounts of the services operated under management or by delegation from the town hall. This is the case for swimming pools, car parks, surface parking, museums, etc. Several figures linked to attendance or revenue from these services in 2023 are denounced by Bruno Nougayrède, an elected opposition official. This applicant for the 2026 Municipal Elections compares these data with those of 2019, the last reference year before Covid.

60% drop in paid entries to the Rigaud Museum

First example: the Rigaud museum, the epicenter of culture in the city, in 2019, the Rodin-Maillol exhibition attracted more than 69,000 visitors, including 42,000 paid entries. In 2023, the Guino-Renoir exhibition piqued the curiosity of 34,000 fans, more than half of whom (17,100) benefited from free entry. “Over these two years, the drop is almost 60% in the number of paid entries and 37% for free entries.underlines the opposition elected official. We cannot deny that the Rigaud museum is a symbol of the attractiveness of the city, so it is worrying”. Xavier Baudry, deputy for the west district, but charged by Louis Aliot to respond on this subject, brushes aside this hypothesis of a lack of attractiveness. He specifies: “It is the scale of the exhibitions that drives attendance, as well as their duration over time. A Picasso or Rodin exhibition facing Maillol attracts a lot of fans. But there’s something for everyone, tastes and colors…”.

Convention and exhibition center: one million euros in loss of revenue

At the convention and exhibition center, the situation seems paradoxical: the number of events is increasing between 2019 and 2023 (from 161 to 195) but revenue is falling. Financial revenues lost one million euros between these two years (going from 4.2 to 3.2 million euros). The City has also released two grants in 2023.exceptional“800,000 euros, then 300,000 euros.”We are facing the problems of inflation and rising energy costs. Hence the allocation of subsidies. At the national level, trade fairs have struggled to resume since the Covid crisis, this is a general context”justifies Xavier Baudry. He hopes that the change in direction will revitalize this management.

Half-hearted parking lots

The Arago car park is in good health. Better than that, the hourly attendance of this parking lot is increasing between 2019 and 2023 by more than 18%. The Wilson car park is doing well with almost unchanged attendance between 2019 and 2023 (+ 0.55%). The République car park is in free fall (minus 42%). But this area has been under construction for more than a year, making access difficult. The Catalonia car park saw a 41% drop in attendance, without any particular work problems. “For me, parking lots are a real indicator of attractiveness. The figures from the Arago-Saint-Martin authority are positive. Which is a very good indicator“, assures the deputy mayor.

280% increase in pound kidnappings

Attendance at surface parking fell by 7.3% between 2019 and 2023. When removals from the pound increased by… 280% over the same period. “We changed the delegatee and increased the free hoursrecalls Xavier Baudry. We have made a major policy against sucker cars which was a real problem in Perpignan, which explains the impound figure.“.

When reading these figures, Bruno Nougayrède observes a “clear and clear drop in traffic to the city center. Louis Aliot criticizes Macron for not being a Mozart of finance, we cannot say that he is the Mozart of attractiveness!“. Xavier Baudry disagrees.”The city center is becoming attractive again, the rest is cyclical. The city is more and more attractive, we still have great challenges to overcome to continue in this direction”.
The municipal campaign is well and truly open.