Relaunches

TourMaG – It has been two years since you took the helm of Intermèdes, following the departure of Jérôme Faucheur. Nevertheless, you already sat on the board since 2019, the year you took a minority stake in the company alongside Sparring Capital. How is the transition going?

Hervé Lafont : Indeed, I participated in the acquisition of Intermèdes in 2019, when Michel Olivier decided to sell. He remained, however, a minority shareholder as well, alongside the investment fund Sparring Capital.

It was a first in my career to take over a company, with its trades, its know-how, and its teams. Up to now, I had only built companies from scratch, notably Verychic, which I founded in 2011 and sold in 2019 to the Accor group, and which helped me get my start in tourism.

When Jérôme Faucheur left in March 2024, who decided, by mutual agreement with the fund, to leave his duties, I already knew the business through the various boards I had attended every month for five years.

But it is there that I truly took operational control.

I joined a company emerging from the Covid period, tired and struggling to regain its 2019 level, partly because of the nature and age of the clients who perhaps needed a bit more time to want to travel again, and also because Intermèdes had been very strong in Russia. It stood as one of the major destinations.

Since 2024, we have truly restarted on a growth curve. The company’s turnover rose from 28 million euros to between 37 and 38 million euros in our latest fiscal year, which will close on September 30, 2026.

TourMaG – Can we say the year is almost wrapped up for Intermèdes?  
Hervé Lafont : We know our revenue at about 95%. The coming quarter—April, May, June—is already full and we are in the process of filling the last August and September availabilities. In terms of client numbers, we should take 11,000 travelers this year, versus a little over 10,000 last year.

TourMaG – Has the conflict in the Middle East affected your activity?

Hervé Lafont : Regarding departures, we canceled the trips to Jordan and Oman that were scheduled for March, April and May.

As for the other trips, the clients who had booked did not disengage at all. We did not receive cancellation requests or particular concerns about those journeys.

TourMaG – And for future bookings?

Hervé Lafont : We are seeing a general weakening in sales for certain destinations.

There was first the shock effect of this conflict, and now we hear a lot from our clients about fears of fuel shortages, which pushes them to adopt a waiting mode, because the context of the information they receive is not reassuring.

What is quite remarkable is that for relatively near-term departures, up to about the end of August, they still position themselves relatively normally, but they struggle to commit to longer-term plans.

TourMaG – What exactly worries them about this fuel shortage risk? Flight cancellations? A rise in fares?

Hervé Lafont : At Intermèdes, fares are kept firm, so there is no risk on that front.

It is primarily psychological. We are confronting a situation that is unstable and travelers hear talk of shortages and flights that might be canceled… For us, this translates into a decline of about 20 to 25% in bookings, a downturn somewhat more pronounced for long-haul itineraries.

TourMaG – So this situation is impacting the results for the 2026-2027 fiscal year?

Hervé Lafont : Indeed, the unknown lies mainly in departures starting October 1st and in the year 2027. We sense a shortfall in bookings for the last two months.

TourMaG – Are you worried?

Hervé Lafont : Not really. My fundamental feeling is that this is a period of instability that will not last forever.

We are beginning to see a certain calm return, a move toward normalcy. In the first six weeks of the conflict there was a sharp rise in airfares across all destinations, especially those served by Gulf carriers.

Now, if Gulf airlines return to the market with real flight capability, they will certainly want to reclaim their position and make substantial offers to win back their clients.

This price surge is likely to persist for a few weeks or months, but I believe it won’t be sustainable in the long term and there will be a correction. This is my personal view; I could be completely mistaken.

TourMaG – While waiting for this to materialize, does Intermèdes have the resilience to weather this new crisis? Are you done with Covid and the loan repayments?

Hervé Lafont : The company is thriving. In two years, we have achieved more than 22% growth in turnover and over 50% growth in our profit.

We still have portions of the state-guaranteed loan repayments to cover for about another year and a half, but the Covid debt is nearing its end.

Intermèdes is a very healthy business, with a highly loyal customer base: 7 out of 10 clients travel with us every year.

We benefit from an exceptionally strong attachment of customers to the brand and to the quality of the programs and the work of the tour guides. They are very loyal to this value proposition.

TourMaG – Do these results, along with your offering, position you as the market leaders in France for cultural travel, ahead of Arts et Vie or Clio?

Hervé Lafont : Clio is indeed smaller than us, about a quarter of our size.

As for Arts et Vie, I think our sizes are roughly similar. The difference lies in the offering.

98% of our trips are led by a tour guide departing from Paris, who remains with the clients throughout the journey until their return to Paris. These are highly experienced French guides, with strong knowledge of the destination and the theme, and who are quite well known to our clients.

The guide provides a comprehensive, end-to-end interpretation of the visit, a holistic view grounded in their French culture, literature, French history, and European society.

This delivers a content level that is relatively high compared to the travel industry at large. We sit toward the higher end on this segment, and clearly above Arts et Vie in terms of the caliber of our offerings.

We have another distinctive trait: our Europe-focused program is substantial and varied, with tours built around themes, exhibitions, and music festivals, among others. We are heavily represented in Southern Europe—Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece—and also in the UK, Germany, and across Eastern Europe.

TourMaG – And in France?

Hervé Lafont : We offer a good number of French destinations, but France is not our number one market in terms of volume or revenue, since those trips tend to be shorter stays, day trips, or 3- to 4-day festivals.

Moreover, our clients do not necessarily require a guide for trips in France. Our value proposition may be somewhat weaker in that context.

For long-haul itineraries, we do not market coastal or seaside destinations. We select countries with a strong cultural authenticity: China, Japan, Korea, the Middle East (Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Oman—though not the right period there), Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia. And in Latin America: Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Colombia.

TourMaG – What is your average basket?

Hervé Lafont : Around 3,000 euros per person.

TourMaG – Do you plan to open new destinations?

Hervé Lafont : We always strive to expand with new destinations, but we also want to broaden the concept of “classical culture.”

Classical culture traditionally refers to trips centered around major museums, architectural heritage, large exhibitions, and religious heritage, etc.

We retain this value proposition, but we add a notion of “knowledge.” We now offer journeys around gardens, prominent historical figures, literature, grand houses. We develop itineraries on Napoleon in Egypt, for instance, and on great English writers, etc.

Since we have many regular clients, novelty is essential. And certain themes aim to attract a younger audience, albeit not dramatically younger.

TourMaG – Any other novelties to announce?

Hervé Lafont : 90% of our activity is based on the GIR concept, i.e., small-group travel.

Historically, we operated two brands: Intermèdes for cultural travel in small groups of 12 to 20 people, and a premium brand named Heméry for groups of 8 to 15.

We are relaunching this brand now, offering slightly higher-end services in terms of lodging and, around logistics and catering, etc.

Having a smaller group is perceived by our clients as a significant advantage. It also enables greater agility for visits to private villas, etc.

TourMaG – What about the remaining 10% of activity?

Hervé Lafont : We arrange group travel on a bespoke basis for many cultural associations, for alumni networks of top schools, and for corporations.

This is something we want to grow, as there is increasing demand for designing trips with a strong cultural theme, but tailored to individuals. Our team (Intermèdes employs 60 people in total) has expanded to meet these requests.