commemorations strengthen memorial tourism which does not weaken

In recent weeks, we have seen visitors rushing to the emblematic sites of Calvados and La Manche. Memorial tourism has become a real boon for the regions, particularly Normandy.

Throughout the year, Normandy regularly welcomes soldiers, veterans and tourists to sites marked by the Second World War. But for this 80th anniversary of the Landing, on June 6, the hotels are full, rentals and guest rooms are sold out.

Every year, 5.5 million visitors, nearly 42% of whom are foreigners, come. Families, but especially retirees, with significant purchasing power, who stay there for a week. This memorial tourism is a real major economic issue for the region. A local study estimates that it generates nearly 8,500 jobs, direct and indirect, and brings 700 million euros to Normandy.

A real ecosystem has been put in place, because the region has seen the benefit of this heritage. It has highlighted the hundred places of memory at its disposal, such as military cemeteries or battle sites, it has developed the sites and opened nearly fifty museums. The most visited is the Caen Memorial, very modern, which welcomes 500,000 visitors per year. To which we must add the sales of souvenirs, cups, posters, but also period uniforms which are selling like hot cakes at the moment. We also don’t forget the publishing sector, because there is also an attraction for books, catalogs, as well as films, documentaries, podcasts linked to this period.

It is therefore a vein, even if some find it indecent, since it amounts to commercially exploiting difficult pages of our History. But Normandy is not the only one. Many regions are surfing this niche. The government has also set up a site “Les Chemins de la mémoire”, which brings together places to visit in France. We can cite Nantes, with the Quai de la Fosse from which the slave trade ships departed, Lyon and its Center for the History of Resistance and Deportation, or even in Paris, the Arc de Triomphe, monument of most visited memory.

According to estimates from the Protourisme firm, the benefits of memorial tourism in France represent more than three billion euros per year. This year, with the 80th anniversary of D-Day, it should be even more.