The coastline remains extremely attractive: 5% of municipalities concentrate a third of stays there and more than 40% of overnight stays. Credit: Adobe Stock
With its latest vast survey, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regional Tourism Committee has fresh, quantitative and qualitative indicators. A reference for a sector with major economic weight.
The New Aquitaine tourism sector has definitively turned the page on the health crisis. With a 16% increase in stays compared to 2019, the region recorded 206.3 million nights and an economic windfall of 14.8 billion euros. However, the major lesson from the major survey that the Regional Tourism Committee has just revealed does not lie only in the volume, but in the very structure of this clientele. For Christelle Chassagne, president of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regional Tourism Committee, this data is the basis of all action: “Data is truly the backbone of tourism. Without these figures, we are in the fog, it is impossible for us to carry out strategies. HAS”
Regional anchoring: primary engine of growth
New Aquitaine benefits from a solid base of loyalty: 85% of tourists are French and among them, the region’s inhabitants are the primary customers of their own territory. They represent 32% of stays, one “power of sub-regional tourism” which cannot be denied. This local clientele is a major lever for seasonal adjustment, being particularly active during the winter months. This domination of domestic tourism is a structural protection. Aurélie Loubes, general director of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regional Tourism Committee, analyzes this specificity as a strategic bulwark: “ Our very low dependence on distant customers is a factor of resilience because domestic tourism has continued to remain.in the face of global geopolitical instabilities. Indeed, the share of customers outside Europe remains minor (less than 1%), thus limiting the impact of international crises which hit regions like PACA harder.
The British comeback and the Belgian explosion
On the international front, the share of foreigners climbs to 15% (and even 19% in summer), with a spectacular increase of 69% in foreign stays since 2019. At the top of the podium, the United Kingdom confirms its rank as the leading international clientele with 22% of overnight stays foreigners. This success is not the result of chance but of an investment maintained despite the turbulence of Brexit. Aurélie Loubes emphasizes that the CRT has never « read the marks » : despite the initial drop in attendance and a huge turnover among British tour operators, the regional teams maintained relations with the new agents to ensure this 42% rebound in British overnight stays. The European landscape is completed by a notable breakthrough in Belgium, whose overnight stays jumped by 104%, lifting the country to third place for foreign guests.
A strategy of value rather than distance
If the region continues to court North American markets (United States, Canada), it is above all for their high added value in terms of average spending, particularly to support the wine tourism sector. However, this development is driven by a desire for sustainability. Christelle Chassagne assumes this positioning as a strong political act for the balance of the territory: “It’s a political choice to say that we won’t go to work everywhere… so as not to talk about overcrowding.”. The objective is now to transform the model by favoring intermodality – the train moves forward by one point while the plane moves back by two points – and by promoting a spread of seasonality.
Adapt support for local actors
These indicators allow the CRT to adjust its aid to professionals. Faced with an overall satisfaction of 8.6/10, critics of the quality-price ratio of catering and accommodation point out that inflation weighs on vacationers’ decisions. The economic flow of these 15 billion euros remains vital for many rural areas which, without this windfall, would be “really in pain”. In conclusion, New Aquitaine draws the contours of tourism “4 seasons” more resilient, where the loyalty of Europeans and Neo-Aquitanians compensates for the volatility of the great international. It is in “better welcoming” rather than seeking to “welcome more” that the region intends to perpetuate its title as the French people’s favorite destination.
