Atout France, France Tourism Development Agency
With 83 million international visitors, generating €35.8 billion of tourist revenue in 2012, tourism is a major industry for France, making up 7.12% of its GDP.
Atout France was established in 2009 with the aim of promoting the development of this sector, and pursues this objective through various projects:
Observing and analysing the tourist market
The Agency runs ongoing and in-depth market watch and analysis programmes on the international tourist.
This understanding both of supply and demand provides a comprehensive overview of the state of world tourist markets, which helps define the major strategic orientations required for the development of French tourism.
Enhancing and marketing the French tourist offer
Atout France offers its expertise in tourist engineering with the aim of making businesses more competitive and destinations more attractive.
The Agency also supports 1200 professional partners (regional and departmental tourist Committees, local Tourist Boards and over 800 private businesses) in their marketing and tourism promotion efforts in France and around the world. More than 2000 promotional campaigns are run every year, targeting the general public, professionals, and the press.
Optimising quality of services Atout France runs some specific projects that aim to improve the quality of tourist offerings. This involves rating tourist accommodation, managing the registration of travel operators but also monitoring and promoting labels like “Vignobles & Découvertes” for wine tourism.
A local, national and international sphere of activity Atout France works internationally through a network of 34 offices across 32 countries. This unique organisational system, which employs more than 250 people, provides the agency with a perfect understanding of international markets and cultures and enables it to successfully target and communicate the activities of its partners, from project design to marketing and sales.
Find out more at: www.atout-france.fr or www.rendezvousenfrance.com