TravTalk India Online Magazine
Creativity is the DNA of Nantes city, says Xavier Theret, Head of International Promotions & Relations, Le Voyage a Nantes – the tourism board of the city, where this year’s Rendezvous en France was held. He is hopeful that its art and cultural tourism will succeed in attracting repeat Indian visitors to France.
Hazel Jain
Nantes is largely unknown to the Indian audience but Xavier Theret, Head of International Promotions & Relations, Le Voyage a Nantes, plans to change that. He says, “We don’t get a lot of Indian visitors to Nantes, honestly speaking. But you have to understand that Nantes was not a tourist destination; it was an industrial city. We had shipyards, but they closed down at the end of 1980s and the city started to decline. The new mayor at the time wanted to create a new image for the city and change the city through art by inviting artists and installing their work in the public space.”
And that is how it started for Nantes as a tourist destination – from 2007 with three massive art projects. The first one was Les Machines de l’Île, which was a really big boost to the tourism landscape of Nantes, followed by the re-opening of the castle of the Duke of Brittany. And then it saw the beginning of the Estuary Project along the river Loire which had artworks from different artists. Under the artistic direction of Jean Blaise, the project now comprises 30 permanent outdoor works.
Theret says, “Art and culture is probably the quickest way to change the image of a place. If you wait for the economy to improve it takes time. When you start to reshape a city with art, from one moment to another you start to look at differently. We also have fancy architecture that is a bit out of ordinary; we encourage creativity. Creativity is the DNA of Nantes city. Once we had these things, things started to change in the minds of people, especially the French media which is so focussed on Paris. And they started to take note of Nantes and that’s how Nantes started to attract visitors from Paris, and then other cities of France and then Europe.”
In 2011, the mayor created a new company to handle tourism and culture and that is how Le Voyage a Nantes was born – it literally translated to ‘the journey to Nantes’. “We have more than 300 people working with us, which is massive for a tourism board,” he says. The city now has a Green line 20 kms long that tourists can follow and see the city’s main attractions. It also has an annual summer festival also called ‘Le Voyage a Nantes’ in July-August where it invites artists and dedicates few spaces for them in the city.
Will Indians like Nantes?
Do you think you can attract Indians to Nantes based on art and culture? “Honestly, I don’t know. What I know of the Indian market is that Indians love the mountains hence French Alps is popular with them. But I think that has changed. And I hope we can do something with India. It’s a market that I think needs a lot of communication – they don’t know much about this area so there is a lot of work to be done,” Theret adds.
He adds that for long-haul markets like India his team has worked on an itinerary that starts from Nantes and goes to Mont-St-Michel. “Right now, travelling from Paris to Mont-St-Michel is complicated and five-hour long. So we want to position Nantes as the gateway to Mont-St-Michel. Nantes also has a direct flight from Paris so tourists can combine Nantes with Mont-St-Michel – a popular attraction – which is a tidal island and mainland commune in Normandy,” he says.
