Atout France is pleased to announce that we will be present at this year's WTM on stands EU1900 and EU1920, from Monday 6th until Wednesday 8th November at the ExCel Centre in London. We are delighted to welcome 92 partners (a 50% increase from 2016) including 12 worldwide brand representatives, with the Paris Region Tourist Board heading its own stand. Atout France will be hosting two networking events on the stand on Monday and Tuesday.

TOURISM FIGURES
In 2016, France welcomed 11.9 million British visitors with a continued positive trend. As France experienced a growth of 5% from the UK in 2017 for the first 6 months of the year. The UK remained the main source market for inbound travellers to France in 2016, representing 15% of total foreign visitors to the country. According to the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, France expects to have welcomed between 88 and 89 million international tourists in 2017, with the objective of reaching 100 million by 2020.

NEW TRANSPORT ROUTES
Getting to France is easier than ever, with plenty of new routes and increased flights:

Air Corsica            
French airline Air Corsica is extending the island's  summer season and aiming to reach a wider network of British travellers by introducing flights from London Stansted to Ajaccio (2-4 times a week), Bastia (2-4 times a week) and Figari (1-2 times a week) between 3rd May and 4th November 2018. A total of 64,000 seats will be available across the three routes. Flights take a maximum of two hours and 15 minutes, and the new timetable allows for three-night stays as well as longer holidays of a week or 10 days.

British Airways

London Heathrow - Grenoble (Saturdays from 2 December)

London Heathrow - Turin (for the French Alps) (Saturdays and Sundays from 26 November)

Manchester - Chambéry (Saturdays from 16 December)

London City - Paris Orly (previously from London Heathrow) (16 weekly flights from October)

Jet2

London Stansted - Geneva (for the French Alps) (at least once a week from 22 December)

Birmingham - Turin (for the French Alps) (weekends from 21 December)

Birmingham - Grenoble (Sundays from 24 December)

A second TGV station is also set to open in Montpellier, Occitanie in summer 2018. Located in the innovative Cambacérès district close to its start-ups, educational institutions and natural spaces, the 'Montpellier-Sud de France' TGV station will save time on journeys to and from Spain and Belgium, as well as Paris and Lyon.

WHAT'S new ON THE STANDs?

We are delighted to invite you to two special networking events at the WTM Atout France stands (EU1900 and EU1920) this year. The first is dedicated to the 2018 Ryder Cup, on Monday 6th from 12.30 to 2.30pm. The Ryder Cup tournament is the greatest in world golf – and its 42nd edition will be held for the first time in France and the first time on the fringe of a capital city. It is only the second time that the Ryder Cup will be staged in continental Europe, with over 50,000 visitors expected per day and an estimated 500 million television viewers tuning in from 200 countries.

The second event is for Remembrance Tourism on Tuesday 7th from 12.30 to 2.30pm. Remembrance Tourism in France continues to be important: the first Franco-German Museum of World War I was officially opened on 3rd August 2017 in Alsace. In April 2018 the Sir John Monash Centre in Villers-Bretonneux near Amiens will open. The Centre tells the story of the Australian so ldiers on the Western Front in France and Belgium during the First World War. 2018 also marks the centenary of the end of the Great War, which will see a special programme poignantly rounding off the last four years of commemorative events, research projects and ceremonies that have taken place in all four corners of France.

There will also be a programme of special activities to engage visitors on all three days, including grand city visions with the 'Paris Timescope' (stand EU1920); a resident artist illustrating iconic sites from Top French Cities on a 'street art' theme (stand EU1900); and the 360-degree VR Experience and Flash Tattoos presented by the Côte d'Azur (stand EU1900). Also offered by the French Riviera is the Fragonard Peony Perfume Creation Workshop (stand EU1920), where you can enjoy the irresistible chance to make your own eau de toilette. Two wine masterclasses will be run by the Paris Region, on Monday 6th from 5-6pm and Tuesday 7th from 4.30-5.30pm at the Club House bar.

Meet the partners on the stands

Meet the Atout France team and partners to get the lowdown on the exciting major events to hit the headlines in France for 2018. In Normandy, a 'Calvados Experience' museum is set to open in Pont l'Evêque in April to showcase the history of this famous apple brandy and offer tasting sessions. On the coast in glamorous Deauville, a new Pierre et Vacances holiday village will boast 134 five-star apartments and a luxury spa. Also new in Normandy for 2018 is a golf course on the Alabaster Coast between Dieppe and Fécamp, offering both nine- and 18-hole options and a restaurant.

In Montpellier, the coming spring will see the Costes brothers open an eponymous hotel overlooking the sea, offering top-quality facilities including a balneotherapy centre. Another new addition in town is L'Arbre Blanc (opening in September),  an innovative residential building in the shape of a tree designed by architects Sou Fujimoto, Nicolas Laisné and Manal Rachdi, which is taking root in Montpellier's contemporary Port Marianne district.

Bordeaux is set to open its long-anticipated marine museum, the Musée de la Mer et de la Marine, in the Bassins à Flot area on 16th June. Later on in October, the city will open the Garden Golf de Bordeaux Villenave d'Ornon, an 18-hole golf course conceived by architect Michel Niedbala on the banks of the Gironde. There's plenty for wine and whisky fans to enjoy too: the Bordeaux Wine Festival will celebrate its 20th birthday from 14-18 June, and by the end of the year, the city will have seen the opening of its own whisky distillery, Moon Harbour.

Toulouse celebrates its scientific pedigree in 2018 as the European City of Science, with a programme of special events and exhibitions held all year to bring fascinating findings and the results of research to the public. In November, the city centre will see its first Mama Shelter hotel opening in former Belle-Époque cinema 'Les Nouveautés', where Joséphine Baker and Maurice Chevalier performed.

In Paris, the 2018 calendar is bursting with exciting new openings. These include that of a new contemporary art gallery by the Galeries Lafayette Foundation in the Marais (end of 2018), and the grand result of the La Samaritaine renovation project by LVMH, comprising a department store, five-star Cheval Blanc hotel, 96 social housing units, offices and a crèche spread over two blocks between the Quai du Louvre and Rue de Rivoli. Other hotel additions include Paris' first Fauchon hotel on Place de la Madeleine (early 2018), a boutique premises by luxury group Mandarin Oriental in the east wing of the Élysée Palace, and the five-star Le Kross on Rue de la Pompe (end of 2018), part of the Evok Hotels Collection.

A new, fully immersive food tour is also launching in Paris, incorporating the best regional specialities, meetings with producers and a delicious lunch at an award-winning wine bar, paired with top-class wines. On the outskirts of Paris are two other openings: the Maison Caillebotte, former home of the much-loved Impressionist artist (with a special exhibition running from 7th April to 29th July), and Longchamp racecourse, due to open its gates in April following a mammoth renovation. Versailles is launching a new promotional 'Versailles for Groups' programme as as well as gourmet tours that skip the queues, allowing visitors to be shown around the chateau by a passionate guide and finish with a fabulous Alain Ducasse lunch on site.

The French Alpine resort of Megève will open Europe's first Four Seasons mountain hotel directly on the Mont d'Arbois slopes on 15th December, boasting 55 spacious rooms, a two-Michelin-starred restaurant and the region's largest spa. There will also be a new 3km-long toboggan run for the 2017/18 winter season, the first on such a scale in Haute-Savoie. From 14-18 March, Megève will host the World Cup Finals of mogul skiing and ski cross following its success with the same event in 2015.

Nord-Pas-de-Calais will see an extension to the Nausicaa national sea life centre in Boulogne-sur-Mer, which contains one of the world's largest aquariums. Opening in July, the manta ray-shaped extension will add over 80,000 new creatures to the existing collection. Finally, the film-famous resort of Cannes on the Côte d'Azur has launched themed stays for leisure groups of 10-50 people staying for a minimum of two nights. With a choice of 'Gourmet', 'Cinema', 'Escape' or 'Culture', the programmes are running from 1st October 2017 to 30th April 2018, and again for the same period the following year.

ENDS

For further information please contact
Anne Pedersen, Head of PR, Atout France
anne.pedersen@atout-france.fr
Tel. 020 7061 6624, www.france.fr