Business tourism market of Paris

Résumé du document

Since the beginning of the first trade shows, direct contact has emerged as the best way to communicate. The development of IT has enhanced this trend. Virtual contacts can stimulate or initiate physical meetings however in any case, they cannot be substitutes. This explains the massive growth of meetings, incentive events and other exhibitions. This is commonly referred to as business tourism. Business tourism is a pertinent and modern media in order to meet, communicate, facilitate ideas and form product interactions as well as to enable new concepts available to people. France is becoming an expert in the global business tourism industry (French Tourism Authority 2007). Tourism is a key market with crucial importance for Paris and its region. According to two relevant international organizations, the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) and the Union of International Associations (UIA), Paris has been the world's leading business tourist destination for congresses since 1979.

Extraits

[...] The improvement of transportation networks. With 86.1 million passengers in 2007 (excluding transit), the second European hub and the sixth in the world is always investing to welcome more and more visitors (Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau 2008). The development of urban business tourism and shorter trips in Europe because of the increase of low cost carriers and the number of events. Paris corresponds to an ideal destination for short urban business trips. According to Plasait (2007: Paris and its belt Ile-de-France concentrate almost 80% of the French business tourism activities. [...]

[...] Business tourism is a pertinent and modern media in order to meet, communicate, facilitate ideas and form product interactions as well as to make new knowledge available to people and increasingly to train. In a worldwide market of 23 Billion, France and especially Paris are becoming experts in the business tourism industry (French Tourism Authority 2007). Tourism is a key market with crucial importance for Paris and its region. According to two relevant international organizations, the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA) and the Union of International Associations Paris has been the world's leading business tourist destination for congresses since 1979. [...]

[...] These interviews are done face-toface or by telephone with relevant people, working in the business tourism such as: Mr Paul Roll, Managing Director of the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau Mrs Carole Zerah, Director of Business Tourism at the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau Mr Jean-Bernard Bros, Deputy Mayor of Paris, in charge of Tourism Mr Francis Mouton, Director of Promotion and Animation of the Public Body for the Development of La Défense Mrs Marie Richard, 14th Vice-Chairman of the Ile-de-France Regional Bureau, in charge of Sports, Leisure and Tourism Mr Jacques Ho Ta Khanh, permanent consultant for the French Tourism Directorate Furthermore, seventeen business customers are interviewed in order to analyse data from the demand side. A questionnaire is used in order to ask the same types of questions to participants. It is a qualitative questionnaire to understand the situation of the Paris business tourism segment, its causes and its consequences. To find recommendations, it is useful to follow an “unstructured”, “exploratory”, “open-ended” and questionnaire (Cooper and Shindler 2006: 385). It is an “inter-method mixing” data collection strategy. The aim is to corroborate qualitative and quantitative findings to give some efficient and truthful recommendations. [...]

[...] The secondary data analysis provides market characteristics, driving forces, strategic issues facing France and Paris. Concluding with an in-depth SWOT analysis seems relevant for this theoretical literature review. The literature review gives us details about what organizations and authors think and how they feel about the top destination. Surveys and studies, done by the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau, as well as Paris Airports Authority, the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Paris and Ile-de-France regional tourist board, provide a host of figures and information. [...]

[...] The first objective is to propose the best model to maintain Paris' leadership. The methodology to reach this goal is analysed in the next point Research design and methodology According to Cooper and Shindler (2006: it is important to “describe what the investigators are going to do in technical terms”. This research, which is mostly qualitative, evolves and is adjusted during the course of the project. In order to propose a model which answers the research objectives defined in part 3., it is relevant to plan the structure of the investigation, following the Cooper and Shindler process (2006: 138-142): An exploratory and formal study: The objectives of the exploration are both: finding more questions, developing recommendations, and also testing them. [...]