The Tourist Office’s mission is to raise the profile of tourism in the Orleans metropolitan area, both in France and on foreign markets, particularly in neighboring countries, but also further afield (Asia, the United States, etc.).\nThe destination’s many assets – heritage, natural, cultural and gastronomic – as well as its proximity to Paris, are still often overlooked by “citybreaker” tourists.\nThat’s where our promotional activities come into their own, particularly in digital form.\nWhat’s more, we are constantly innovating and diversifying our offer with new products and services, thus helping to boost the region’s tourist appeal, in close collaboration with our network of local partners. <\/p>\n\n
In addition to our mission to promote and market tourism, we attach particular importance to welcoming, listening to and advising our visitors.\nThat’s why we recently moved into new premises on the Place du Martroi, right in the heart of the city center and in line with the train station.\nMore modern, with a fully-fledged digital reception area and a large store, this new tourist office is truly up to the challenge of our tourism ambitions! <\/p>\n\n
![\"orleans-tourism\"](\"https:\/\/www.travel-insight.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Orleans-Val-de-Loire-Tourisme-espace-accueil-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/h5>\n\n2 – Can you tell us about the Tourist Office’s latest innovations, including the website?<\/h5>\n\n
In mid-July, we launched a modernized version of our website.\nWith a streamlined graphic style, we’ve focused on highly visual, inspirational content, and a fully responsive format.\nWe’ve refined the way we search for activities and service providers, and optimized our online activity booking and ticketing functionalities.\nAs the development of cycle tourism is one of our priorities, we have added a “cycling” entry to the main menu.\nAs well as optimizing the website, we are of course also continuing to develop the engagement of our communities on social networks, notably Facebook and instagram. <\/p>\n\n
Another new feature in June was the launch of a totally paperless CityPass.\nOur visitors can now book their pass online and receive a barcode directly in their smartphone wallet, giving them access to the various services included in the CityPass: museums, tours, mini-train and boat rides, floral park, etc. <\/p>\n\n
We have also expanded our ticketing offer to include discounted castle passes, as well as museum and park passes.<\/p>\n\n
3 – How is the summer season going for the destination?\nAnd how are you preparing for summer 2021? <\/h5>\n\n
It’s still too early to make an initial assessment of the summer of 2021, as projections for August remain uncertain.\nOur hotel partners are reminding us that, once again this year, bookings are being made at the last minute, the weather is fickle, and government measures linked to covid-19 sometimes seem to be confusing people.\nSo we’ve approached the summer season with as much flexibility and agility as possible! <\/p>\n\n
Nevertheless, the initial figures are encouraging.\nThe month of July saw a sharp rise in visitor numbers at the tourist office (almost 50% more visitors), with a significant presence of Dutch, German and Belgian tourists.\nThe must-see and unusual tours, the CityPass and the little train are always a great success.\nAnd our website has seen a real spike in traffic in recent weeks: +400% sessions the week it was launched!\nThe hotel partners we contacted confirmed that July was a satisfactory month overall. <\/p>\n\n
At the Tourist Office, part of the summer’s preparations was devoted to familiarizing ourselves with our new working environment, and getting to grips with our new digital reception tools (touch-screen terminals and tables, image wall…).\nWe have also optimized our newsletters, developed new partnerships for digital communication (leboncoin, oui.sncf…), updated our documentation, expanded our souvenir store range, offered new tour themes, new packaged products… We have carried out specific promotional actions aimed at the cycling tourist target.\nFinally, we also took part in several virtual BtoB trade shows, notably in the French, English and Asian markets. <\/p>\n\n
4 – You decided to call on Travel-Insight to support your social networks a few years ago, why?<\/h5>\n\n
Travel Insight is supporting us in implementing our digital strategy on social networks and our influencer campaigns, for the3rd<\/sup> year running.<\/p>\n\n In addition to their expertise and experience with various tourism players, we particularly value the outside eye they bring to our content proposals and positioning, as well as their creativity.<\/p>\n\n