In a bid to woo more tourists from the Kingdom during the forthcoming summer vacation, France will offer tailor-made packages for Saudi tourists for a peaceful summer holiday.
In a presentation held in Riyadh recently, Pascal, director of Maison de la France (MDF), government-owned French Tourist Office in Dubai said his country is keen on attracting Saudis and expatriates from the Kingdom to visit not only Paris but also hundreds of tourist destinations outside the capital.
Pascal said that France gets only 200,000 Middle East tourists from the annual 77 million tourists from all parts of the globe. One third of them came from the Kingdom, he added.
“This is not enough at all,” Pascal said, adding that his country would like to allure more tourists from the Kingdom since it gets quality customers from this part of the world.
“Saudis are by nature heavy spenders and they prefer to spend a luxury holiday which is amply found in all parts of France.”
He added that the hotels would provide Arabic-speaking guides to help the Arab tourists and would also undertake to arrange packages for the families to enjoy their stay in privacy.
Of course, there are the sunny beaches of the Riviera and the snow-covered slopes of the Alps, the châteaux of the Loire valley, and the splendor of Versailles and Paris, famous the world over, but France has many more hidden riches.
France boasts an exceptional natural heritage, as rich and varied as it is all too often unknown. And yet along with the national and regional parks and their summer crowds, there is a multitude of wild habitats well worth the detour.
Situated in a temperate zone, it is Europe’s only country with vast territories under four different climates: Atlantic, continental, alpine and Mediterranean. Seven national parks, 27 regional natural parks and more than 100 natural preserve bare witness to this biological abundance.
In the summer most of these havens of greenery are literally invaded by town folk. So much so that a family-hiking excursion on the col de la Vanoise, in the Alps, can sometimes turn into a nightmare.
To focus tourist activity and play an active part in local development, these parks are now offering “nature outings”, an original scheme of holidays specially designed to cater for lovers of landscapes, culture and traditions.
Over the past three years, these parks and preserves have also welcomed a hundred or so Panda gîtes on their territory or in the immediate vicinity. These chambres d’hôtes and gîtes ruraux of impeccable quality, set up with the support of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), are located in the very heart of outstanding natural environments. Guests have the opportunity, all year round, to indulge their skills as animal spotters and amateur botanists.
To attract tourists to the less frequented nooks of these protected sites, certain enterprises and associations are offering original tourist programs. Sud Escapades, for instance, invites its guests to discover the Caroux, in the southern Cévennes, with llamas acting as porters. These docile and charming trekking companions have the ability to wind their way along even the most hidden paths of a rough and rugged massif, in areas where horses and, sometimes, even donkeys would rather not venture.
In the Ardèche, Accrocs-Branchés allow you to rediscover the simple pleasures of tree climbing in safety, and of traveling from branch to branch before settling down for the night in a hammock amidst the treetops. The Loir-et-Cher département has more to offer than the traditional visits to its famous châteaux (Chambord, Cheverny, etc.). Indeed, the tourist office invites visitors to “track down” beavers, the river’s natural lumberjacks, on a nocturnal watch on the banks of the Loire River. And the Anat Association, for its part, offers visitors the opportunity, literally, of a total immersion course with the wetlands of the Alsace Rieds: they can wade barefoot in the springs, cover themselves with clay, and experience close-up the only deer in France living in the wild.
Likewise, while the beaches of the Agriates, in northern Corsica, are invaded every summer by holidaymakers. Junipers, Aleppo pines, wild olive trees, arbutus and heather adorn the rocky slopes of the Monte Genova (418 m), where nature shelters and has to be deserved; there, too, spring coaxes out the pretty little white flowers. In this plant and mineral furnace, a stone’s throw from the crystal-clear sea is the tranquil waters of the Loto Lake, a veritable oasis minus the palm trees.
