Booking platform promoting unusual guided tours and touristic activities to explore the alternative attractions and secret spots of the greater Paris.
Eight Tourism Boards and other partners brought their expertise and resources to renew and boost Paris' image as a tourism destination, and to develop and promote a new urban tourism offer in off-the-beaten-track venues, on the wider scale of Greater Paris.
Paris, the ultimate city break destination, is not simply a city centre. An abundance of cultural, artistic and festive offers on both sides of the ring road attract tourists searching for something different. This creative offer is based on themes such as street art, architecture, modern art, cosmopolitan Paris, nature and in particular river tourism in the Greater Paris area. The finalised offer has been launched at the www.exploreparis.com e-store, both in French and in English. Tourists can choose from a wide selection of Greater Paris experiences, discovering the area and meeting residents on tours and walks, at workshops, on cruises, and engaging in water sports activities, etc.
The aim is not only to develop this tourist destination's image but also to increase tourism flows from the centre of Paris to the capital's suburban districts and towns – which are all easily accessible by public transport - and to promote these areas and their tourist attractions.
The platform also offers professionals an effective booking tool that has substantially simplified their everyday work. This system has helped tourism boards to develop even closer relations with local stakeholders.
Resources needed
Development of the offer / partnership : 3 FTE
Customer relations / management of the platform : 2 FTE
Communication : 1 FTE +
Development and maintenance of the platform : 72 K€
Communication (press kit, flyers, press reception, referencing, …) : 33 K€
Promotion (workshops) : 15 K€
Evidence of success
In 2019 :
Number of visits per year: 3,400 visits proposed on different time slots
Number of visitors: 49,000 visitors
Turnover : 341 000€.
Client profile: regional (90%), national (8%), international (2%)
Platform attendance:
562,000 unique visitors, 2.5 M page views
+88% between May-December 2018 and May-December 2019
Newsletter: 70,000 subscribers
Difficulties encountered
- Reaching out to French and foreign tourists
- Difficulty in developing tourism products in English with a lot of competition and when sales are very low (it’s a new platform)
- The profitability of some tourism products is difficult to reach, in particular for river tourism products
Potential for learning or transfer
Explore Paris is an opportunity for tourism professionals to target regional and national visitors interested by off-the-beaten-tracks activities and visits. It also offers to professionals an effective booking tool that simplify a lot their everyday work. The platform has helped tourism boards to develop even closer relations with local stakeholders.
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Tags: Communication, Cooperation, Economic development, Rivers, Sustainable tourism, Tourism
