Atout France's Mélanie Paul-Hus &
Armelle Tardy-Joubert, with Fabien Pelous
of AF
Armelle enjoying a favourite French dessert, crème caramel. Délicieux!
Who has greater style than the French?
If you have clients headed to France this year, chances are when they come back they’ll say: Busy place. Indeed the entire country is going to be buzzing with festivals, galas, exhibits, commemorations and celebrations throughout 2013.
This was the message at a luncheon held this week as part of a 4 city trade mission to Canada organized by national tourist office Atout France in partnership with Air France and 31 travel suppliers. YVR, YYC, YTO and YUL were all on the itinerary.
This year, their mission is to showcase the “builders” of all things France is famous for, according to Atout France’s Director for Canada Armelle Tardy-Joubert. No guys in hard hats… France’s builders have over centuries constructed its culture, cuisine, fashion, art, cinema and architecture. And when you think about it, any country which has brought the world – to name just a few - Chanel, Matisse, Ravel, Sartre, Descartes and Rodin (and charmed the impressively large pants off Julia Child) has lots to be proud of.
Just some of the events will include Tall Ships in Rouen, Jeux de la Francophonie in Nice, 850th anniversary of Notre Dame, 50th anniversary of the Paris Airshow at Le Bourget, the Nice Jazz Festival, Paris Fashion Week and the 100th anniversary of the Tour de France – often many Canadians’ 1st glimpse of France, on TV, says Mélanie Paul-Hus of Atout France’s PR department.
Partner AF is also looking forward to a great season of Canadian traffic across “ze pond”. As well service as frequent as 3 times daily from a single Canadian gateway (YUL) and daily from YYZ, plus via AMS from YYC and YVR on sister airline KL, there are connections to 41 cities within France on AF’s domestic partner Hop! A forthcoming agreement with WS – still somewhat hush-hush – will be sure to make getting to France even more convenient for many Canadians.
Solidifying the ties between France and Canada was the announcement of this year’s Best France Product winner – Butterfield & Robinson for their Burgundy Bike Tour and Gateways International as Partner of the year. Félicitations to both!
