All tourism indicators for the Lyon urban area are showing very positive results for the first half of the year, from the hotel industry to the sale of tourist products. Major contributing factors have been the opening of a direct Eurostar connection and the success of the Emirates line, as well as the opening of the Confluences Museum, with record-breaking numbers of visitors and an unprecedented international promotion campaign, which is being run by ONLYLYON Tourism and is set to continue until 2017. Even though the figures for the summer are not yet known, 2015 already looks like it will be a superb year.
An explosive first-half From January to June, the performance of the hotel industry* in the Lyon urban area has been explosive, with a 6.5% increase in the cumulative occupancy rate and a 7.4% increase in the average price. Furthermore, over the same period, the RevPAR of 4 and 5-star hotels has grown by 16.4%. This dynamic growth has been observed among all tourism service providers: the 'LYONRESA' booking centre for the destination has seen a 20% increase in turnover during the first half of the year, while sales of the 'LyonCityCard' (a tourism pass for Lyon), have grown by a huge 58%. This positive trend can also be seen with a 25% increase in visitor numbers for Lyon City Boat (cruises) and a 15% increase for the Open Tour (double-decker bus). Visitor numbers to ONLYLYON Tourism reception points has increased slightly (+ 1%), with 230,000 people welcomed, of which 44% were foreigners.
A historic international promotion campaign supported by the State At the end of 2014, ONLYLYON Tourism was delighted to announce that the French government had selected Lyon as an ambassador for French gastronomy. Following the Assises Nationales du Tourisme (national tourism conference), and as part of the call for projects 'Contrat de Destination' (destination agreement) launched by the French Foreign Ministry, the project 'Lyon and Paul Bocuse celebrate 50 years of gastronomic excellence', run by ONLYLYON Tourism, was selected from among forty or so applications submitted from all over France. The promotional campaign rolled out as part of this agreement is a first for Lyon in terms of its scale. The campaign lasts three years and covers six countries per year. In order to make as big an impact as possible, each event combines an action targeted at the general public (digital and/or event-based) with an action targeted at professionals. In 2015, following two exceptional stages organised in Dubai, followed by the French Pavilion at the Universal Expo in Milan, the tour stopped in Paris at the Grand Palais, then in London just before the summer. It kicked off again in September with an exceptional event in Times Square in New York, followed by Munich, another essential customer base for the Lyon urban area. The campaign aims to attract visitors to Lyon and foster its growing reputation as a destination, which can be observed in the media in particular: during the first half of 2015, ONLYLYON Tourism contributed to the publication of 212 articles, an increase of 30% in comparison with 2014.
Press contact: ONLYLYON Tourism and ConventionsAïmée Reategui - Tél. : +33(0)4 72 77 72 [email protected] - www.lyon-france.com
*Source: Hotel Industry Observatory of the Lyon Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with Greater Lyon.