While in France be like the French

The Rendez-vous en France Travel Market was held from March 28-29, 2017, in Rouen. This flagship event organised by Atout France and its partners gathered over 2,100 tourism operators and enabled French destinations to give visitors a first-hand, ‘live’ experience of what they have on offer.

ANUPRIYA BISHNOI FROM FRANCE

The Rendez-vous en France Travel Market is part of a drive to market global destination brands to international professionals, who travel from 67 countries to visit this trade fair. As Christian Mantei, Chief Executive, Atout France, points out, “After some difficult months, business is picking up and just has to be consolidated. Rendez-vous en France is perfectly timed: European and Asian tour operators are flocking to the fair and ask for nothing better than to resume their tours to France, which is a key market for their business.”

The fair was a golden opportunity for French professionals to promote their product to a panel of buyers hand-picked by the teams in the Atout France network abroad. In 2018, the Rendez-vous in France Travel Market will be back in Paris from March 27-28. Talking about Rendezvous en France Travel Market, Heena Munshaw, Managing Director, Beacon Holidays, says, “I came to Rendez-vous en France Travel Market after a gap of six years and I think they are much more receptive to the Indian market now. In this edition I found a big change as a lot of tourism bodies run regular tours in the Bordeaux region and the Champagne region. They also provide services for your specific requirements, they work with the local guides and you can customise your itinerary. France can have lot of regional tourism with this attitude.”

Neil Patil, Founder & Director, Veena World, says, “It’s one of the most spectacularly organised events in comparison to the other travel marts that happen all around the world. The way appointments were scheduled, the way people approach you was quite organised. Also, today it’s very easy to find information over the internet and one might see why do one need to attend this but our industry, as much as its going online, it’s about service as well. You want the best services from the best people. Over the internet, you might start doing business with them but you realise lot of intricacies when you actually sit in front of them across the table as to how much quality experience they are going to deliver.