Saint-Nazaire to “Ship-city” sea giant boost tourism – francetv info

Since the beginning of the year, guided tours of the shipyard STX France are increased by 77% compared to the same period in 2015, after already jumped 60% between 2015 and 2014, with over 40,000 paying visitors, according to data from the Tourist office of Saint-Nazaire.

40,000 people expected this Sunday

in March, the first fishing trip of the Harmony liner of the seas for technical testing had attracted 30,000 people to the ground. This diamnche, the municipality hopes to more than 40,000 curious to witness the grand start of the mastodon 362 meters long and 66 meters wide to Southampton.

“This ship, this gigantism, calls, impresses people. (…) And the more we approach the start, the more the media seize it, the more it attracts the world in Saint-Nazaire. And that is the whole image of the city that has “ says Onfray Bertrand, Managing Director of Saint-Nazaire tourism and heritage.

to cope with the rush, tourist office has recruited two new guides set up additional slots for visits shipyard , since more than ten years, and for those, especially focused on the “giants of the sea”, which are available for almost a year, he said.

But the improvement does not only affect those visits. All of the offer under the name “The Port of all journeys” by the tourist office knows “a boom”, with the first quarter, an increase in attendance of 58% for the Airbus factory , 54% for the Living Museum where the history of the port is traced, 45% for the Espadon submarine or 30% for “Escal’Atlantic” that can be immersed in the world of ocean liners.

“the city is improving”

“Harmony is a huge vector. But it’s not just the Harmony it is a whole. the city is improving, renovating, an entire community is starting to get rid of a certain label “ , notes Laurent Dupont, Director Comfort Hotel Europe, where attendance is establishing “an increase of 5% per year.”

“the demand is there. it was a great activity for five months and the hotel sold out the entire month of May between technicians who work on construction sites and tourists who come to Saint-Nazaire, “says the hotelier.

Construction of Harmony of the seas, order book at STX France as Airbus … “We are fortunate to have an extraordinary situation and it plays on the morale of everyone. We speak positively of Saint-Nazaire, which reinforces the global tourist positioning of the city , which is to reintroduce the idea that Saint-Nazaire is primarily a city littoral “, argued Bertrand Onfray.

the city of 70,000 inhabitants, bombed during the Second World War, was razed to over 95%. It has” suffered “but got up. And side shipyards that made his reputation, thanks to the construction of ships like the mythical France, Normandy or the Queen Mary 2, Saint-Nazaire, it is also “20 tracks, three blue Flag, a large cultural offer quality, and outstanding geography with the Loire, the sea, the peninsula and the Briere Regional park “, recites his Socialist Mayor David Samzun.

” on the industrial side, growth is there. Never have we seen such an alignment of planets, a specification also perpetuated between STX, Airbus and wind at sea. Saint-Nazaire also has the will to become a tourist destination and for now we are starting to take off “ says Mr. Samzun.

_{With AFP}