Toulouse wants to boost its tourism. The Toulouse Métropole attractiveness agency presented this Monday, March 28 the results of the year 2021 and its prospects for 2022 and beyond.
After a year 2020 where attendance collapsed due to the Covid, 2021 shows that Toulouse is still of interest to tourists. The attractiveness agency had 4.5 million visitors last year, i.e. 1.5 million more than in 2020 but one million less than in 2019. On the other hand, the number of overnight stays has been multiplied by 3 between 2020 and 2021, reaching 3.4 million. Now the goal is toreach 5 million overnight stays in the Toulouse metropolitan area by 2023/2024. “It’s our Holy Grail” repeats Jean-Paul Dardelet, the president of the attractiveness agency. A Holy Grail almost achieved in 2019, a year of all records.
Diversify tourism
For this, the agency wants to diversify, change the nature of Toulouse tourism. Today centered on business tourism – it represents 70% of activity today -, the metropolis wants to develop tourism in 4 seasons, all year round. “Toulouse has become a base camp during this Covid period, explains Jean-Paul Dardelet. French tourists came to Toulouse, settled for slightly longer periods in hotels of better quality. A phenomenon that has now become an axis of development.
“We are now targeting long weekends, the holidays of July-August and January-February, which are periods that are too calm, continues the president. We want to increase the occupancy indicators in these periods of low occupancy.” The objective, on the weekends, would be to reach 60 to 65% occupancy by next year.
The metropolis also wishes to extend the length of stays for tourists, increasing them from one or two nights to three or a quarter. A way to make Toulouse a rear base, a hub to radiate around. Partnerships have also been forged with Albi and Carcassonne.
Reinforcement of activities from this summer
As of this summer, the agency focus on cultural programming in the pink city to attract more people. On the Garonne, nautical activities are renewed. A call for projects has also been launched to provide a precise framework for activities on the river. Toulouse Plages will return from mid-July until the end of August at the Prairie des Filtres, which will partly host a new festival organized by the city From toulouse.
Its name is not yet recorded, its programming still in progress but it will take place from July 8 to 24. A thirty concerts are planned in the Raymond-VI garden, next to the Dôme de La Grave. The Capitol Orchestra will play at the Prairie des Filtres with a guest chef on July 16. The town hall promises big names for programming.
Exhibitions are also extended throughout the summer, such as the one on Saint-Exupéry at l’Envol des Pionniers. Another will bring together great photographers on the theme of birds at the Water Tower. Toulouse will also host the Biennial of Living Arts for three weeks at the end of September. The Cité de l’Espace has already recorded an increase of almost a third of admissions during the February holidays.
A fan zone at the Prairie des Filtres for the Rugby World Cup
In 2023, Toulouse will be one of the cities where Rugby World Cup matches will take place. Five matches will take place at the Stadium. A fan-zone will be set up in Toulouse, on the Filtres meadow to follow all the World Cup matches on a giant screen. The area will accommodate up to 40,000 supporters.