Paris showcases diverse attractions

Atout France and Visit Paris Region, in partnership with Easy-Van and Air France, organised a two-day familiarization tour for the Indian tour operators to Paris. The goal was to highlight Paris’ diverse appeal and create a market for Indian associates to interact and create travel packages to promote the city’s best products among Indian tourists.

Poonam Akolia

The world’s top tourist destination, Paris, and the region are constantly innovating their touristic offering to cater to current visitor trends. A recent familiarization tour to Paris, part of Rendez vous en France, highlighted Paris and its recent attractions. The tour began with a memorable encounter at the Musée Grévin, home to more than 200 wax figures of world-famous celebrities, including Mahatma Gandhi.

A site inspection of Le Meridien, Etoile, a hospitality partner for the tour, was also in the itinerary. While describing the hotel’s amenities for leisure and M!CE travel, Marianne Thioly, Director, Sales & Marketing, Le Meridien Etoile, said, “We really want to develop the Indian market, especially the Incentive Indian market. Indeed, as we have a huge number of rooms (and twin rooms) and meeting facilities, and the possibility of organizing Indian catering in line with Indian expectations for this kind of event. We can receive huge groups as we have handled MICE groups in the past, and can organize a nice experience for the guests with an Indian touch.” The evening concluded with a show at the famous Parisian cabaret, Crazy Horse.

The second day began with an immersive visit of the Hotel de la Marine, a well-known landmark on the Place de la Concorde, followed by a hearty lunch at the Grand Café Capucines, which included interesting interactions with Parisian suppliers.

A majority of tour operators had an exhilarating experience at Fly-View 360, and called it as their “most exciting” experience. Anoop Kanuga, Director, Bathija Travels, said, “Post-Fam, I was thoroughly impressed with the FlyView 360 product and it will definitely be on my must-do list.”

Honey Kapoor, Director, My Travel Box, said, “Paris is a destination that you will never tire of visiting. There are a lot of historical monuments and vintage palaces, art museums, and stylish shopping hubs. However, FlyView Paris was one of the experiences that I enjoyed the most with its unique bird’s eye discovery of France.”

The day ended with a refined dinner at the trendy Madame Brasserie restaurant located on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. An exclusive behind the scenes visit of the Eiffel Tower was a lifetime experience for all the delegates. Farida Atttarwala, Director, Butterflyers Holidays, said, “The visit to Hotel La Marine with its exquisite display was new for me. The behind the scenes visit of the Eiffel Tower was a fascinating experience”.

Rajiv Naidu, General Manager South-Leisure Travel (outbound), SOTC, said, “France is one of the most desired destinations among Indians in Europe.”