The September survey by the Languedoc Roussillon Comité régional du tourisme (CRT) shows a particularly strong end of the season. After a terrible June and July the CRT issued a warning on the 5th August and launched an enquiry amongst professionals in the Languedoc toursist industry to find the causes of the unexpected drop in numbers. Fortunately the August figures were stable year on year as people seemed to be taking their holidays later, the September figures show a large increase in British and German tourists, with a new wave of Asian visitors particularly Japanese.
The level of tourism in the Languedoc has been slowly falling since 2002 after 4 years of exceptional growth from 1997-2001. Despite an increased level of visitors arriving by RyanAir the key bedrock of French internal tourism is slowly dropping. High value tourism, notably Germans, who on average spend more per holiday day than any other of the significant foreign visitors, have stabilised with France losing out to the new European member countries on the East of the Adriatic.
The demographics of the tourism business is also slowly changing, activity and cultural holidays are on the increasewith a younger client base while the thermal resorts are declining with their older clientele.
The Languedoc CRT is in the process of completing a study and action plan for developing the tourist infrastructure of the region and putting in place more effective promotion of the region both in France and in the key foreign markets.
Peter Shield

The Languedoc CRT in co-ordination with l'Observatoire régional since 1997 have conducted monthly surveys of 2000 leading tourist business in Languedoc Roussillon, this survey forms the base of their reports.