The new Middle East office for French tourism agency, Maison de la France, is currently compiling a luxury brochure featuring some of the country’s most exclusive travel products.
Top-end destinations, resorts, accommodation, French retailers and services such as private aircraft and helicopter charters and chauffeur-driven cars and limousines are likely to be included in the glossy publication, which will be targeted at consumers, but distributed through the region’s travel trade.
“I hope to feature three or four destinations such as Paris, the French Riviera, the Rhône-Alps region and maybe Lyon or Biarritz,” explained Pascal Lepêtre, who heads up the recently opened Maison de la France Middle East office in Dubai. “We will be targeting the upper crust of the luxury market,” he added.
The goal is to get the brochure out in time for Arabian Travel Market, he explained.
In order to source premium content, Lepêtre attended last month’s International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM) in Cannes, which was attended by several key buyers from the Middle East region.
“This year I attended to find out what ILTM was all about, but next year I will be more prepared and target the hosted buyers from this region,” said Lepêtre. “I will take care of them after the show and maybe take them on a fam trip to the Riviera, or even to inland France.”
Lepêtre said he met with 20 buyers from the Middle East at ILTM, including the UAE’s Thomas Cook Al Rostamani and KSA’s Al Tayyar Travel Group.
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