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Raise Awareness, Boost Sales, and Sustain Growth: Three Complementary Levers for Sustainable Tourism Growth [ABO]

August 24, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

Trade marketing, représentation commerciale, partenariats stratégiques : ces trois leviers ne s'opposent pas. Ils répondent à des questions différentes - Photos : WinWin Alliances Consulting et DepositPhotos.com, SergeyNivens

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It happens, after a familiarization tour, a trade show, or a B2B campaign, that a question naturally arises in our meetings: “How many sales have we generated?”

The question is legitimate. It, however, deserves to be complemented by others.

Because behind the diversity of our actions – trade marketing, commercial representation, strategic partnerships – there are in fact three professions, three horizons, and three value-creation logics.

Distinguishing them, without pitting them against each other, seems to me a condition for the calm with which we steward our investments.

Three professions that converge without merging

Trade marketing builds brand preference among distribution networks. It is about making a destination, an airline, or a receptive partner known, and embedding in distributors’ minds a durable, fair, and memorable image.

The tools are familiar: webinars, trainings, presence at trade shows, newsletters, familiarization tours, roadshows, educational content. Success is read in awareness, engagement, quality of conversations, and memorability of the offer.

When I support the promotion of a destination on the French market in particular, it is precisely this work that occupies the largest share: to create among travel agents a refined and desirable knowledge of the country, which they can mobilize when the client raises their hand. The sale does not trigger at the moment of the webinar. It germinates.

Commercial representation pursues a different, more immediately transactional goal: to open accounts, negotiate agreements, sign contracts, accompany the first sales.

The tools can resemble one another: a lunch, a meeting at a trade show, but the objectives are different. What I do for one client by working on listing and contracting with agency networks, or what I can deliver for an airline developing its TO portfolio, falls under this logic: to convert existing preference into concrete revenue.

Finally, there is a third level, less visible and yet often decisive: strategic partnerships. Identify the right allies, structure the alliances, build a coherent annual plan, align trade, marketing, and sales around a common vision.

This is the least documented work and, in my view, one of the most decisive. It is what I had the opportunity to build at Worldia, and what my experience with territorial authorities and tourist offices taught me to observe on the institutional side.

These three professions sometimes use the same tools. They do not measure the same effects, do not operate on the same horizons, and do not produce the same proofs of success.

What research reminds us about short and long-term perspectives

This distinction of temporalities is not merely a practitioner’s intuition. It is widely documented by marketing effectiveness research.

Binet and Peter Field, in their landmark study The Long and the Short of It, analyzed nearly a thousand cases spanning thirty years of data.

Their main observation deserves thoughtful reflection: short-term activation tactics yield immediate effects but fade quickly, whereas brand-building investments yield both long-term and short-term effects. The reverse is not true.

That does not mean short-term activation is useless, far from it. It means that the two logics are complementary, and neglecting one or the other weakens overall growth.

Binet and Field propose a now-classic benchmark: roughly 60% of investment toward brand-building and 40% toward activation; a balance to adjust to contexts but whose logic remains universal.

Also read: Why do some tourism brands stay in memory… while others disappear immediately?

A B2B specificity worth keeping in mind

Our sector being predominantly B2B, an additional perspective deserves attention: the 95-5 rule, formulated by the researcher John Dawes.

Companies change supplier or service provider on average once every five years, which means that about 5% of B2B buyers are “in the market” in any given quarter, and 95% are not.

Applied to tourism, a TO product manager, a MICE buyer, a travel agency director does not renew their reference partners each quarter.

When a familiarization tour brings together twenty-five professionals, most are not in an immediate purchasing position, but they may be in eighteen months, in two years, in five years.

Dawes’ teaching is valuable: advertising, or more broadly visibility activity, works mainly by building a mnemonic link for the brand, a link that will activate when the need arises.

It is, I believe, a liberating framework. It allows us to evaluate each action by its real contribution, and not by a calendar that is not the buyer’s.

How to articulate the three levers in practice?

A question, rather than a conclusion

Trade marketing, commercial representation, strategic partnerships: these three levers do not oppose each other. They answer different questions, on different time horizons, and together contribute to the sustainable growth of a tourism brand.

The first builds memory. The second converts opportunity into revenue. The third creates the conditions for this to endure over time.

Perhaps the challenge for our executive committees is not so much choosing between these three levers as orchestrating their complementarity, by equipping themselves to evaluate each according to what it can truly produce.

And you, how do you articulate these three phases in your strategy? I would be curious to read your feedback.

Who is Adeline Musset-Sullivan?

Adeline Musset-Sullivan - Photo : WinWin Alliances Consulting

A tourism professional for nearly 20 years, Adeline Musset-Sullivan has worked in institutional, private, and SEM environments, at the crossroads of business development, strategic partnerships, and institutional relations, driven by a strong belief: well-thought collaborations are today one of the most effective growth levers in the sector.

She is recognized for her expertise in business development and public relations within the tourism sector.

Her professional approach, summed up by her motto “kindness and win-win collaboration,” is widely praised in her field.

Her career has taken her from business travel (AMEX GBT, international accounts) to territorial strategy and international promotion, before joining Worldia, where she built and led the Trade & International Partnerships division.

This trajectory has enabled her to develop a 360-degree view of the challenges facing tour operators, destinations, hoteliers, DMCs, brands, and institutions.

She founded WinWin Alliances Consulting, a firm dedicated to supporting travel players—private as well as institutional—in structuring their partnerships, gaining visibility, reaching the right decision-makers, and turning actions into measurable results (conversion, cash-in, impact).

Her approach is collaborative, pragmatic, and ground-oriented. She also works as a trainer and speaker (ESTHUA, ESCAET, INNTO France), convinced that sharing experience is a key driver to advance the sector.

Also read: Tourism: Adeline Musset-Sullivan launches WinWin Alliances Consulting

MOOVTOO: The Designer of Conversational Agents, a New Career in Tourism [ABO]

August 24, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

Le concepteur d'agents conversationnels est un véritable architecte de la connaissance territoriale. Il doit comprendre les modèles d'IA, mais aussi maîtriser la médiation culturelle, la qualité des données, l'écriture, l'expérience utilisateur et l'animation des réseaux territoriaux - DepositPhotos.com, andreynekrasovone

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L’intelligence artificielle conversationnelle est souvent présentée comme une technologie capable de remplacer les moteurs de recherche ou les traditionnels chatbots.

Pourtant, derrière les démonstrations spectaculaires des grands modèles de langage se cache une réalité beaucoup plus complexe : une IA n’est performante que si elle est nourrie par des contenus fiables, structurés et contextualisés.

Autrement dit, les véritables créateurs de valeur ne sont plus uniquement les développeurs, mais aussi ceux qui savent organiser, relier et raconter un territoire.

C’est précisément le pari de MOOVTOO, jeune entreprise française qui développe des agents conversationnels spécialisés dans le tourisme.

Letting Data Speak… and Territories

The MOOVTOO idea did not originate with the arrival of ChatGPT. Its founders have been working on this for about six years, at a time when chatbots were still limited to a few predefined scenarios.

Their ambition was already to create a digital tourism guide capable of dialoguing naturally with visitors.

Since then, the revolution of large language models has profoundly changed the possibilities on offer.

Nevertheless, according to the founders, the real challenge is not technological. It consists of building an intelligence capable of understanding a territory in all its richness : heritage, culture, mobility, gastronomy, accommodations, events, services or local narratives.

The objective is no longer merely to answer a question but to accompany a traveler throughout their experience.

Also read: The tourism trades facing AI: technological mutation or new hospitality?

Two complementary paths

Cette vision est portée par deux profils très différents.

Élodie Morel est journaliste de formation. Elle a notamment créé et dirigé le média numérique iloubnan.info au Liban, développant une solide expertise dans la production éditoriale, la narration et l’expérience utilisateur.

Nehmé Lebbos est ingénieur spécialisé dans les systèmes d’information et la Business Intelligence. Il évolue depuis la fin des années 1990 dans les univers du web, de la donnée et du voyage.

Leur complémentarité illustre parfaitement l’évolution actuelle des métiers de l’IA.

Concevoir un agent conversationnel ne relève plus uniquement de l’informatique. Cela suppose également de maîtriser les contenus, les usages, les attentes des voyageurs et les spécificités des territoires. Le métier devient autant éditorial que technologique.

An AI that learns the story of a territory

L'objectif de MOOVTOO : dépasser la simple recommandation algorithmique pour construire une véritable conversation personnalisée - Illustration MOOVTOO

Contrairement aux moteurs conversationnels généralistes, MOOVTOO s’appuie sur un principe de contextualisation avancée.

Chaque destination possède son propre corpus documentaire composé de données touristiques, de contenus éditoriaux, de récits, d’informations pratiques et de ressources locales.

Ces informations alimentent ensuite le modèle de langage grâce aux techniques dites de Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), permettant à l’intelligence artificielle de produire des réponses cohérentes avec la réalité du territoire.

La plateforme repose également sur un important travail de structuration des contenus. Culture, patrimoine, nature, gastronomie, mobilité, hébergements, activités ou événements sont organisés selon un référentiel de variables qui permet de créer des liens intelligents entre des milliers d’informations. L’objectif est de dépasser la simple recommandation algorithmique pour construire une véritable conversation personnalisée. Demain, cette IA pourrait réserver directement une table dans un restaurant, organiser une visite guidée ou composer un itinéraire multimodal adapté aux envies de chaque visiteur.

Humans remain the primary intelligence

A new profession is emerging

Au fond, l’exemple de MOOVTOO révèle peut-être l’évolution la plus profonde des métiers du tourisme.

Demain, les destinations auront besoin de nouveaux profils capables de faire dialoguer les données, les contenus, les outils numériques et les acteurs locaux.

Ces professionnels devront comprendre les modèles d’intelligence artificielle, mais aussi maîtriser la médiation culturelle, la qualité des données, l’écriture, l’expérience utilisateur et l’animation des réseaux territoriaux.

Le concepteur d’agents conversationnels devient ainsi un véritable architecte de la connaissance territoriale.

Dans cette perspective, l’intelligence artificielle n’apparaît plus comme une simple innovation technologique. Elle constitue un nouvel outil de marketing territorial, au service de l’attractivité, de la valorisation des savoir-faire locaux et d’une expérience touristique plus fluide, plus personnalisée… et toujours profondément humaine.

Lire aussi : L. Bertounèche (Genial) : « L’intelligence artificielle ne remplacera jamais l’expérience du territoire »

Brice Duthion est président – fondateur de l’agence “Les nouveaux voyages extraordinaires” (LNVE) spécialisée en conseil, conférences et communication.

Il intervient auprès de nombreux acteurs publics et privés dans ses domaines d’expertise : le tourisme et l’hospitalité, la culture et les patrimoines, les territoires et les politiques publiques.

[email protected]

Cruise Tourism: Marseille Aims to Better Manage Passenger Flows

August 23, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

L'équipe de Marseille Provence Croisière fêtera les 30 ans de l'association à la fin de l'année - Photo : MPC

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“Our aim is not to run more cruises, but to do better.”

One year after his election as president of Marseille Provence Croisière (MPC), Jacques Hardelay reiterates the direction he intends to give the association: to better integrate cruise activity into the region and maximize its local economic impact.

This strategy notably involves a better understanding of the passengers.

MPC has strengthened its statistical observatory to analyze nationalities, maritime and riverine flows as well as the itineraries of cruise passengers in the city.

The objective is in particular to anticipate saturation risks in certain neighborhoods.

Targeting the Mainline Passengers

These data should also feed a joint strategy with Marseille Provence Airport to develop direct air links and attract more passengers boarding or disembarking in Marseille.

A clientele known as the ‘head of line’, deemed more beneficial for the local economy since they are likely to stay in the city before or after their cruise.

In the same spirit, Marseille Provence Croisière is preparing the promotion of the future J4 maritime terminal, which should allow the destination to strengthen its positioning in the luxury small-cruise market.

On the environmental front, the on-quay electrical power supply installations, officially inaugurated in April 2026, are now operational. A commissioning phase is nonetheless necessary: each vessel must carry out its own tests and adjustments before regularly using the equipment.

According to MPC, several shipowners are choosing Marseille to carry out these technical tests.

Marseille Provence Croisière Will Celebrate Its 30th Anniversary

The association is also working on developing short provisioning circuits for ships, with initial direct contracts between inland shipowners and regional wine producers, and similar efforts undertaken for maritime cruising as well.

The association also plans to strengthen dialogue with local stakeholders. Working groups bringing together hoteliers, merchants and tourist sites have been created, while a strengthening of territorial governance is scheduled for July.

This new phase comes a few months before Marseille Provence Croisière’s 30th anniversary. Created in 1996 under the name Club de la Croisière Marseille Provence, the association adopted its current name in 2023.

Tiny Tourism: What If the Perfect Trip Consisted in Doing Nothing, Like Tourists?

August 21, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

What if, to truly discover a city, you had to start by forgetting the places everyone wants to see? This is the idea behind “Tiny Tourism,” a new way of traveling that prioritizes neighborhood shops, local habits, and the small details of daily life. In Dublin, this approach invites, for example, to do your grocery shopping at the supermarket, rummage through second-hand shops, or take the suburban train, rather than chaining together the must-see attractions. But by trying to flee the tourists, do we risk missing what gives a destination its identity?

Travel Often Hides in the Details of Everyday Life

“Tiny Tourism” starts from a simple principle: to discover a destination differently, it is better to observe what its inhabitants actually do, rather than reproduce the typical tourist route offered to visitors. The concept was developed by the British creative platform It’s Nice That, which looked into this growing desire to break away from classic itineraries.

The idea isn’t necessarily to seek secret or spectacular places. On the contrary, it consists of focusing on ordinary activities: buying products in a supermarket, entering a pharmacy, taking a stroll in a residential neighborhood, using public transport, or paying attention to street signs, sidewalks, and gardens. The report dedicated to “Tiny Tourism,” published by It’s Nice That Insights in April 2026, thus recommends to “zoom in on the details rather than showing panoramic landscapes”.

This approach also responds to a weariness with destinations saturated by tourism. Some travelers no longer want necessarily to encounter the same streets, the same restaurants, and the same viewpoints popularized on social networks. The report thus estimates that there exists “a powerful desire to discover the ordinary way of living in a place and to see how it contrasts with ours”.

For Liz Gorny, editor-in-chief of It’s Nice That Insights and the originator of the concept, it’s precisely these ordinary experiences that stay in conversations after a trip. “I had the impression that people were always talking about that café they went to or about what they found in a grocery store,

“That’s what seems exciting.”

In Dublin, this philosophy can thus lead to skipping traditional mementos for a second-hand shop, testing a new flavor of chips in a supermarket, or asking a local for advice. Travel becomes less a succession of monuments than a collection of small discoveries.

Should We, for That Matter, Give Up the Must-See Sights?

The problem arises when this desire to avoid touristy places becomes an absolute rule. In Dublin, some highly frequented spots remain hard to bypass without losing part of the city’s experience. Temple Bar, for instance, attracts visitors from all over the world, but its pubs and its animation are also part of local life. Trinity College, another major classic, tells a crucial part of Ireland’s cultural history.

“Tiny Tourism” shows above all that it is not necessary to choose between classic tourism and local immersion. Taking the DART to Sandycove, for example, allows one to leave the city center and discover Forty Foot, a swimming spot frequented by locals. A far less conventional experience, but one that can become one of the most memorable memories of the stay.

The concept also has its limits. A pharmacy will not necessarily be very different from the one you frequent at home, while the spontaneously given recommendations by locals can be imprecise or concern places that are closed. More importantly, some activities presented as “local” may already have become tourist attractions.

The value of “Tiny Tourism” may thus lie less in removing monuments than in changing our way of traveling. The report suggests prioritizing “an anti-show approach” which could render a stay more enduring in memory.

Rather than turning completely away from the must-sees, a middle-ground solution seems ultimately more pertinent: visit the major sites that interest us, then take the time to look at what surrounds them. Because discovering a supermarket, chatting with a swimmer, or pushing open the door of a neighborhood shop does not necessarily allow you to know a city better than its monuments. But these detours can give the trip a dimension that checklists of places to tick off do not always manage to provide.

Sustainable Tourism in Polynesia: The Rāhui, the Lesson Tour Operators Have Yet to Learn

August 19, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

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The issue is no longer marginal: it has become a booking criterion in its own right, almost on par with price or the level of comfort. But between what travelers say and what they actually buy, the gap remains vast.

85 % of travelers say they are willing to choose accommodation committed to sustainable development. In practice, only 8 % actually do. This is not a lack of desire. It is a lack of readable, credible, and easy-to-sell options. (source: CSA / Prisma Media Solution, Tourism Observatory)

This paradox is not a fatality. In French Polynesia, there exists an answer to this gap, and to date it has almost never been told to French tour operators. It does not come from an imported label or a voluntary charter. It comes from a practice aged several centuries, now reactivated by law, by science, and by the communities themselves: rāhui.

Le rāhui : quand authenticité et écologie deviennent un seul geste

The rāhui is an ancestral management tool, practiced throughout the Polynesian triangle for centuries. Its principle is simple: temporarily ban access to a lagoon, a bay, a species, or a resource, to give it time to regenerate, for the benefit of the entire community. Formerly ordered by village chiefs, the rāhui has seen renewed interest since the 2000s, now carried by municipalities themselves, often in connection with NGOs such as Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy.

The most spectacular example is Bora Bora. Facing the gradual disappearance of sea urchins, bay scallops, and sea cucumbers, the municipality created in 2025 a rāhui covering 700 hectares at the heart of the lagoon, in front of the iconic Matira Beach: no boats, no jet-skis, no fishing. The decision was made after extensive consultation with fishermen, churches, neighborhoods, and tourism stakeholders. The first affected, fishermen who now face fines, accepted it themselves.

This level of buy-in is far from trivial: a study by the Biodiversity Research Foundation shows that 90% of the Polynesian population wants to see a rāhui established in every commune. The country nevertheless marked a major milestone in 2025 by making French Polynesia the largest marine protected area in the world, with 1.1 million km² already covered and 500,000 km² of additional strict protection planned for 2026. A rāhui project call, now supported by the Polynesian Ministry of Agriculture, Marine Resources and Environment, is already in its 9th edition.

This is the angle few programs still exploit: elsewhere in the world, “respect for local culture” and “environmental protection” are two separate approaches, which tour operators must build and justify separately. In Polynesia, it is the same. Enforcing a rāhui on your clients, in the same move, honors a legitimate cultural practice in the eyes of an entire community and very concretely protects a reef or a species. There are not two checkboxes. There is only one.

Une destination qui structure sa durabilité au plus haut niveau

This local dynamic is embedded in an overarching territorial strategy. Tahiti Tourisme built its Sustainable Tourism Plan, which lays out 110 concrete actions through 2030, and had the destination Tahiti and Its Islands evaluated by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) between 2023 and 2025. The FM27 strategy (Fāri’ira’a Manihini) explicitly aims to diversify geographical flows toward less-visited islands, to preserve the most exposed sites without sacrificing the high-end service level expected by the premium clientele.

This ambition is not a mere added-on.

GSTC : un langage commun pour rassurer sans greenwasher

The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) is a nonprofit organization, born in 2010 from the merger of several initiatives supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Its role is not to issue labels itself: it establishes the global reference criteria for sustainable tourism and accredits organizations that certify hotels, tour operators, and destinations. These criteria revolve around four pillars: sustainable management, local socio-economic impacts, cultural preservation, and environmental protection.

Their relevance to you, as a tour operator, is precise: they provide a common vocabulary, internationally recognized (by groups like TUI or Four Seasons), which allows you to demonstrate real commitment without falling into vague promises or the greenwashing that clients increasingly fear. And because the GSTC criteria are designed to adapt to local cultural realities, a practice like rāhui can fully fit within them, which is not the case for most generic environmental labels.

Trois leviers concrets pour vos programmes

Le rôle de Tahiti Travel Services : facilitateur, pas simple exécutant

No tour operator is meant to become, on its own, an expert in rāhui, in GSTC criteria, or in the ecological balances of each archipelago.

This is precisely the role Tahiti Travel Services intends to play: a field partner, capable of translating this Polynesian richness into sale-ready programs, aligned with the destination’s FM27 strategy, credible to a demanding clientele, and faithful to what makes the true authenticity of the fenua.

Sustainable tourism is not, in Polynesia, an extra layer to add to the product. It is a way of telling what already exists, for a very long time, on these islands.

Mauruuru.

Tahiti Travel Services

Tourisme durable en Polynésie : le rāhui, la leçon que les tour-opérateurs n'ont pas encore reçue

[email protected]

www.tahititravelservices.pf

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New Trends and Geopolitical Conflicts: European Tourism Holds Strong

August 18, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

Le tourisme européen résiste face aux conflits géopolitique et aux nouvelles priorités des voyageurs, Depositphotos.com

CroisiEurope

Despite a complex economic and geopolitical backdrop, the desire to travel remains steadfast in Europe.

On Thursday, July 9, 2026, the European Travel Commission (ETC) published its indicators for the second quarter of 2026. The assessment reveals solid growth: across the continent, international tourist arrivals show a rise of 5.0 % compared with the same period in 2025, while hotel overnight stays increase by 4.8 %.

This performance nevertheless occurs in a climate of waning consumer confidence and increased pressure on purchasing power.

If growth remains overall positive, holidaymakers’ behaviors are shifting toward more selective choices. Budget considerations, safety, geographic proximity and flexibility are now the decisive factors in choosing stays.

Strong Uptick in Northern Europe and Mediterranean Disparities

The regional results illustrate a healthy overall momentum, even if about one in five destinations manages to reach double-digit growth.

Northern Europe outperforms the rest of the continent, with arrivals up by 10.0 % and overnight stays up by 8.4 %. Meanwhile, Central and Eastern Europe, buoyed by the appeal of new experiences and competitive prices, records a 5.2 % rise in arrivals and a 6.9 % increase in nights spent.

The Mediterranean basin remains a major driver in absolute volume, although the situation there is more uneven. If Greece, with a 38.3 % rise in arrivals, and Italy, up 21.1 %, show excellent performances, Turkey and Cyprus experience a clear slowdown, recording declines of 2.1 % and 17.9 % respectively due to their perceived geographic proximity to the Middle East conflict.

This instability has also been felt in European air traffic: after a very strong first quarter with 7.0 % growth, the pace fell sharply to 1.0 % in April due to changes in air corridors.

A Summer Budget Safeguarded but More Closely Monitored

Spending data indicate an average expenditure per visitor often higher than last year. In Greece, for example, tourism receipts jumped by 64.3 %, far outpacing the rise in physical flows. In Italy, the trend reverses with expenditures rising more modestly (+4.3 %) despite a substantial increase in traveler volumes.

For summer 2026, leisure travel remains a top priority: Europeans plan to devote 13.0 % of their total consumption budget to it, a figure well above the global average set at 8.5 %. Non-European sending markets follow the same trend, increasing from 7.5 % in 2025 to 7.7 % this year.

Nevertheless, price sensitivity accelerates as major departures approach. Nearly 48 % of professionals surveyed in the Travel Industry Monitor say financial accessibility has become the key issue of the quarter, up from 32 % at the start of the year. The southern European destinations benefit from this, capturing 61 % of stay intentions between June and November.

Finally, there is a marked shift toward the off-season. September bookings are rising strongly across Europe, as travelers increasingly seek to avoid extreme heat waves and overtourism.

At the same time, while interest in sustainable tourism grows in online searches, only 41 % of consumers say they are ready to concretely modify their transport or stay habits for environmental reasons.

Atout France Has Been Hacked: Cyberattack Hits French Tourism Agency

August 16, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

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Atout France dans la lignée de Belambra, Maeva et Gîtes de France - Depositphotos retouchée par l'IA

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tttt The list is long and shows no signs of stopping.
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tttt After the historic wave of hacks that hit tourism in May, revealing a relatively basic vulnerability among several major players in the sector, cyberattacks continue in the tourism industry, without ever stopping.
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tttt And this time, it is the turn of a public institution to have its vulnerabilities laid bare.
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tttt Atout France therefore suffered an attack by a malicious individual who could have extracted, according to their statements, data from approximately 400,000 user accounts.
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tttt Samples, as a gesture of good faith, as is customary on the dark web, have been shared.
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Atout France Following in the Footsteps of Belambra, Maeva, and Gîtes de France

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tttt The hacker claims to have exploited an access-control flaw, i.e., an IDOR (Insecure Direct Object Reference) vulnerability, according to frenchbreaches, as was the case for Belambra, Gîtes de France or Maeva.
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tttt “In French, one could translate that as having a direct reference to an unsecured object.
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tttt That is to say that if a profile, a file or an invoice is stored directly within an application, simply entering the direct address could allow access, even without the proper authorization.
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tttt We are not facing an extraordinarily sophisticated technical exploit, but rather a misunderstanding of security at the human level,” we were told by Christophe Mazzola, founder of the Cyber Academy, in a previous article.
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tttt Beyond this weakness, the consequences can be dire for companies or individuals.
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tttt Regarding Atout France, about 400,000 user accounts would thus be compromised. The attacker(s) would have access to names, first names, roles, emails, phone numbers, billing postal addresses, organizations, member numbers…
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tttt A multitude of information that could feed, in the future, phishing campaigns or other highly targeted malicious actions. Vigilance will therefore need to be doubled in case of emails purportedly sent by Atout France in the days and months to come.
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Pacha Tours and Trenitalia France Also Hacked

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tttt Do not believe that, after the historic wave of hacks that the tourism industry experienced, hackers have lost interest in the sector; quite the opposite.
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tttt Taking advantage, no doubt, of the sector’s cybersecurity weaknesses, the trophies have been many.
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tttt There was, at the end of June, Pacha Tours. The hackers claimed to have extracted 2 GB of data thanks to “a code-injection technique used to modify or retrieve data in SQL databases (tables with rows and columns, ndlr)“, according to Cloudflare.
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tttt Thus, on both the Pacha Tours site and its pro space, the compromised data would concern 31,087 unique individuals, 4,413 unique emails, 3,705 unique phones, 132 cleartext passport numbers, 10,153 PNR codes, and 1,096 B2B agency accesses with passwords in clear text, according to the attackers.
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tttt But that’s not all, because Trenitalia France also suffered a similar misfortune.
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tttt The malicious actors gained unauthorized access to certain personal data of customers related to ticket purchases. This attack has been confirmed by the operator.
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tttt An email campaign was sent to the company’s customers.
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tttt It reveals that the information in the pirates’ possession includes: civil and identification data (buyer and passenger names, passenger date of birth); contact data (email address, phone number); travel data (information associated with the transport ticket, such as itinerary, travel date and time, ticket number); type of offer or service linked to the transport ticket and data needed to benefit from these offers.
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tttt Moreover, the attackers claim to have extracted data from 60,568 user accounts, as well as metadata from Smartbox agreements or e-signature documents.
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tttt “We really need to roll up our sleeves and get to work, because this kind of data leak, in Europe, we are truly among the few who know this story.
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tttt I work a lot in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Belgium; there, this isn’t as common. France is acting as the delinquent student,” Christophe Mazzola explained to us.
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Canal du Midi: 30 Years of UNESCO Recognition — Still the Engine of Inland Waterway Tourism

August 12, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

Inscrit au patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO depuis 1996, le Canal du Midi célèbre cette année les trente ans de son classement. Une reconnaissance qui a conforté son statut de locomotive du tourisme fluvial français - DepositPhotos.com, pabkov

CroisiEurope

You don’t simply visit the Canal du Midi. You traverse it.

At the wheel of a license-free boat, by bicycle along the towpaths, on foot in the villages or from the terrace of a winery, everyone designs their own itinerary.

It is undoubtedly this ability to offer multiple ways of traveling that explains why, thirty years after its UNESCO World Heritage inscription, the Canal du Midi remains the emblematic destination of French inland-waterway tourism.

When UNESCO distinguished, in 1996, this feat imagined by Pierre-Paul Riquet in the 17th century, it saluted as much an engineering masterpiece as an exceptional cultural landscape. Four centuries later, the 240 kilometers linking Toulouse to the Étang de Thau remain navigable and continue to shape the territories they traverse.

The canal also constitutes the central link in a genuine waterway crossing of France, connecting the Atlantic to the Mediterranean thanks to the Canal de Garonne. A continuity that underlines the singularity of the Canal des Deux-Mers. Today, a recreational boater can still travel from Bordeaux to Sète without leaving inland waterways.

The locomotive of river tourism

The UNESCO designation has greatly contributed to the Canal du Midi’s international renown. Today, it accounts for nearly 30% of French inland-waterway tourism, a status that professionals observe each season.

« Our number one destination remains the Canal du Midi, ahead of Burgundy », confirms Anne-Fleur Noual, marketing director of Riverly. This position illustrates the enduring appeal of this waterway among both French and international audiences.

European leader in no-license boat rental, Le Boat also makes it one of its flagship destinations. The operator notes that the Canal du Midi accounts for almost 30% of its bookings made in France and presents it as a “living heritage”, discovered as much along the water as at the stops.

The Canal du Midi: the laboratory of “fluvestre” tourism

Le Canal du Midi, le canal des Deux-Mers qui relie l'Atlantique à la Méditerranée grâce au canal de Garonne - Photo Canal du Midi

This success is also explained by the evolution of practices. The Canal du Midi is no longer limited to navigation: it has become one of the best illustrations of the “fluvestre” tourism, where experiences on the water naturally extend onto land.

Boaters alternate cycling along the towpaths, visits to Carcassonne, Castelnaudary or Le Somail, tastings in the Minervois vineyards and gastronomic discoveries. Cyclists, for their part, traverse the 240 kilometers from Toulouse to Sète, sometimes in three days, sometimes in a week, at the pace of villages and locks.

This complementarity between navigation, gentle itineraries, heritage and gastronomy today makes the Canal du Midi far more than a simple nautical destination. It makes it a fully-fledged tourist destination, capable of appealing to boaters as well as cyclists or wine-tourism enthusiasts.

The water challenge

The Canal du Midi owes its success not only to its history or its landscapes. To stay navigable, it now undergoes increasingly refined management in response to climate change.

« The years 2022, 2023 and 2025 were marked by episodes of severe drought in the Adour-Garonne basin, which concentrates a significant portion of the national water deficits » explains Jean Niquet, head of the Infrastructure, Water and Environment Service of Voies navigables de France Sud-Ouest.

Despite these conditions, the network operator has managed to preserve tourist activity. « On the Canal du Midi, navigation was nonetheless maintained at 99.8% of traffic during these difficult years. On the Canal latéral à la Garonne, no interruptions were recorded », he notes.

To achieve this, VNF has profoundly adapted its hydraulic management. « We raised the Saint-Ferréol dam operating level by 12%, organized water transfers from Montagne Noire to Ganguise, and implemented targeted restrictions at the end of the season », details Jean Niquet.

Beyond these adaptations, VNF also continues replacing the plane trees affected by the colored canker, the maintenance of civil engineering works and the preservation of landscapes that earned the Canal du Midi its World Heritage inscription.

France-Vietnam Cooperation: Hanoi Seeks to Attract French Tourism Professionals

August 11, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

Hanoï donne rendez-vous aux professionnels français le 4 août à Paris - DepositPhotos.com, monticello

CroisiEurope

More than 276,000 French visitors explored the streets of Hanoi in 2025, marking a spectacular 32% increase in a single year.

Building on this momentum, the City of Hanoi plans to take advantage of its visit to Paris to present to French stakeholders the full range of cooperation opportunities offered by the capital.

Coordinated with the support of VNCT (Vietnam Culture & Tourism in Europe Association), this meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Artemis Hall in the Batignolles Space, located at 18 Rue de la Condamine in Paris’s 17th arrondissement.

The event is primarily aimed at tour operators, travel agencies, tourism professionals, airlines, companies, investors, institutional bodies, and specialized journalists.

It should provide a platform to address investment, trade and sustainable development opportunities alongside leading speakers, notably Mr. Nguyễn Ánh Dương, Vice-Director of the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade, Mr. Nguyễn Trần Quang, Vice-Director of Hanoi’s Department of Tourism, and Ms. Lê Y Linh, President of VNCT in France.

The delegation aims to place this event within the continuity of a decentralized cooperation that is already rich and long-standing, conducted notably with Paris, the Île-de-France Region, Toulouse, and other French institutional partners.

Targeted opportunities and direct exchanges with the delegation

On this occasion, Hanoi seeks to better showcase the diversity and richness of its offerings: its historical heritage, its renowned Old Quarter, its remarkable architecture, its cuisine, its traditional craft villages, as well as its cultural tourism and new urban experiences.

Positioning itself as a capital that is both heritage-rich, modern, innovative, and sustainable, the city aims to attract more French partners in strategic areas for its future.

Because beyond the development of trade and investments, the challenge is to intensify tourist flows in both directions.

The partnership opportunities particularly cover urban infrastructures, transportation, logistics, ecological transition, new technologies, creative industries, as well as high-quality agri-food sectors.

An ambition that also fits within the framework of the city’s new investment promotion campaign unveiled in July, which foresees new incentive mechanisms and announces hundreds of investment projects.

This initiative relies on an unprecedented master plan with a 100-year projected development vision, aimed at speeding up the digital transition and materializing about fifty strategic agreements, notably on green and sustainable transport.

A program paced between official briefings and networking

Designed to foster operational contacts and partnerships between actors from the two countries, the event will unfold around two main moments:

5:00 PM – 5:15 PM: Welcome of participants at Espace Batignolles.

5:15 PM – 6:15 PM: Official opening sequence, presentation of the Hanoi delegation, remarks by institutional representatives and a detailed briefing on the investment environment, economic activities and the capital’s tourist potential.

6:15 PM – 7:30 PM: Networking and B2B exchange session to discuss concrete cooperation prospects, accompanied by a presentation of Vietnamese gastronomy and a professional cocktail.

Tourism professionals can register via this link

Double Island to Reopen to Tourism in Australia After 13 Years of Closure

August 11, 2026 by Amara Nambinga

Double Island, une île emblématique du Queensland, se réinvente - Photo : Morris Group

CroisiEurope

Après treize années de fermeture, Double Island s’apprête à changer de dimension.

Le groupe familial australien Morris Group a remporté l’appel d’offres lancé par le gouvernement du Queensland pour exploiter cette île située au large de Palm Cove, à une trentaine de kilomètres de Cairns.

L’entreprise prévoit d’investir 40 millions de dollars australiens dans la relance touristique du site, avec un projet combinant excursion à la journée, infrastructures de loisirs et hôtellerie haut de gamme.

An initial public opening planned for 2027

Ancien resort insulaire parmi les plus réputés d’Australie, Double Island doit d’abord renouer avec une clientèle de proximité et les visiteurs de passage dans le Tropical North Queensland.

La première phase du projet prévoit la construction d’un nouveau ponton ainsi que l’ouverture d’un bar-restaurant de plage. Cet espace accessible au public doit accueillir ses premiers visiteurs en décembre 2027.

Le groupe Morris souhaite faire de l’île une destination d’excursion à part entière, accessible aussi bien aux habitants de la région qu’aux touristes. Des sentiers de randonnée doivent également être aménagés afin de valoriser l’environnement naturel de l’île.

“Nous voulions nous assurer que chaque étape de ce projet soit bien accueillie par la communauté locale“, explique Chris Morris, dirigeant du groupe.

L’accès à la journée constitue ainsi la première étape de la stratégie de relance de Double Island, avant le développement d’une offre d’hébergement plus exclusive.

24 villas de luxe à l’horizon 2029

La seconde phase du projet doit être consacrée à la Double Island Lodge, dont l’ouverture est annoncée pour 2029.

Le futur resort comprendra 24 villas de luxe, réparties sur six secteurs de plage. L’établissement intégrera également une piscine, un spa, une salle de fitness et un Sunset Bar situé entre les deux collines de l’île.

Un restaurant-boutique cinq étoiles de 100 couverts doit compléter l’offre. Outre les clients de l’hôtel, il pourra accueillir des mariages et des conférences.

Avec cette offre, Morris Group entend positionner Double Island sur le marché du tourisme haut de gamme, en ciblant à la fois les voyageurs australiens et la clientèle internationale.

“La Double Island Lodge sera un hébergement de luxe sans équivalent dans la région“, affirme Chris Morris, qui veut en faire une nouvelle référence touristique pour le Queensland.

Un projet intégré au développement touristique de la région de Cairns

La stratégie d’accès constitue un autre volet important de l’investissement. Le nouveau ponton doit permettre l’accueil d’opérateurs d’excursions maritimes, tandis que la flotte de Morris Nautical pourra également être mobilisée pour assurer les transferts.

Le groupe prévoit notamment d’utiliser trois superyachts de luxe stationnés à Cairns. Depuis Palm Cove, la traversée devrait durer environ 20 minutes.

Un héliport doit également être aménagé sur l’île. Il permettra d’organiser des transferts directs depuis le continent, mais aussi des vols panoramiques au-dessus de la Grande Barrière de corail.

Double Island entend ainsi s’inscrire dans l’écosystème touristique déjà développé autour de Cairns et du Tropical North Queensland, où plusieurs îles proposent des expériences complémentaires, de l’excursion à la journée au séjour en resort de luxe.

Pour le Queensland, la réhabilitation de Double Island représente également un enjeu de valorisation d’un site touristique emblématique resté fermé pendant plus d’une décennie.

Publié par Amelia Brille Rédactrice TourMaG.com
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