Deauville (France)- Noureddine Saoudi

Deauville, the costal town, hosted the 26^th session of أ¢â‚¬إ“TopResaأ¢â‚¬آ‌, the international fair for travel professionals from 30^th September to 2^nd October. The Arab presence was generally significant but on the Arab media front Islamic Tourism was the only magazine to cover the event.

أ¢â‚¬إ“TopResaأ¢â‚¬آ‌ which started a quarter of a century ago in a hotel room in Paris has improved year after year. It is now hosted at Deauville in a horse race course, covering 21500 sq m. There were 24,000 participants and the number of visitors exceeded 143,000 plus 400 journalists.

The foreign exhibitors represented 68% of the total number of participants. Thirty two percent of the exhibitors were French. Europe took a prominent place with 30% of the total number, followed by Africa with 14%, the Middle East 12% and Asia 10%. Travel agents were about 24%, hotels 21%, tourist boards 2% and transport companies 17%.

The three-day fair was an eventful occasion with meetings and lectures on topical issues in the travel industry. Presentations were made about new programmes for different destinations and the exhibitors exchanged views.

One of the main views expressed was that new travel programmes are required to take into account ethical and environmental dimensions. Studies revealed that price/ quality is still the determining factor with travellers. From this view point, the winning destinations were: Spain (33%), followed by Tunisia (26%), Morocco (24%) and Portugal (19%).

The head of أ¢â‚¬إ“Framأ¢â‚¬آ‌, the largest French travel agency, announced that Arab destinations were very successful this year, especially Morocco (12,000 visitors), Tunisia (80,000 visitors) and Egypt (40,000). Morocco was also the top destination for the German firm أ¢â‚¬إ“LTUIأ¢â‚¬آ‌. Its sales increased last summer by 34%.

The Arab presence was remarkable in quantity (21 countries), and quality (tourism boards, hotels, travel agents and airlines), as well as the fine decoration which represented the local architecture. Moroccan and Tunisian were the largest Arab companies and the most active. The Moroccan participation was enhanced by the presence of the Minister of Tourism, Adil Al-Duwairi, who arrived on the second day of the fair and held discussions with Moroccan and Foreign investors.

Islamic Tourism Magazine was represented by its publisher Mr. Shakiry and the writer of this article. It was the only Arab magazine at the fair. The Jordanian stand hosted the magazine and we are thankful to them. We also had discussions with a number of participants and discussed our publication, website and other activities. The magazine was generally praised and respected by all.

The exhibition was opened by Mr. Gilles de Robien, the French Tourism Minister, who emphasised the importance of tourism to the French economy and the need to be competitive in a competitive market. Mr. Leon Bertrand, the French Secretary of State for Tourism, attended the fair on the second day and emphasised the vitality of adapting to new developments in the international tourism market, such as the internet and the ethical and environmental dimensions of tourism.