Alsace brings its culture & history to Canada

The Alsace region of France was in the spotlight this week, as area representatives met with Canadian agents and tour operators to showcase the region’s 2015 offerings.

According to Melanie Paul-Hus of Destination France, the series of meetings (conducted throughout the week in Ontario and Montreal) drew plenty of interest from Canadian travel reps familiar with the destination yet looking for something new to offer clients.

Located in the northeast of France in Europe’s Upper Rhine Valley, Alsace is located west of the region’s namesake river, bordered by the Swiss region of Basel at its southernmost edge and Germany’s Black Forest to the east. According to Jean-Christophe Harrang of Access Alsace, while most travellers to Alsace and the URV are on their third or fourth visit to France (often opting for Paris followed by the country’s Mediterranean coast on their previous journeys), the region’s close proximity to other prominent European tourist destinations makes it an easy sell to clients looking to experience several aspects of the continent in one trip.

Getting to Alsace will be made even easier in 2016, Harrang said, following the completion of a high-speed rail line which will shuttle guests from Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport to the city of Strasbourg in under two hours.

Harrang told PAX that Canada is Alsace’s fourth most important overseas market at 17,000 room nights in 2014, behind China (40,000), Japan (42,000) and the U.S., the region’s top source of international arrivals at 90,000 room nights. Harrang explained that travellers from all four markets are drawn by the region’s history as well as its reputation as a wine and culinary hotspot, boasting 29 Michelin-starred restaurants along with the Alsatian Wine Road, passing through 119 villages and providing travellers with numerous opportunities to sample or even help produce wine.

“We receive people who are very interested in finding something specific in the worlds of gastronomy, wine or heritage,” Harrang said, adding that the region’s Christmas markets are a particularly strong draw. “They’re usually France-lovers.”

Perhaps the region’s biggest tourism news for 2015 is the anticipated reopening of the Musee Unterlinden in the Alsatian town of Colmar. Museum spokesperson Alexandre Willmann said that the facility - an historic building which houses hundreds of works from artists including Picasso, Renoir and Monet, to name only a few - is set to reveal its multi-million dollar renovation in December after five years of work, carried out by Herzog & de Meuron, the Swiss architectural firm which also constructed Beijing’s ‘Bird’s Nest’ stadium for the 2008 Summer Olympics. A Jan. 23 grand opening ceremony has been set for the museum, which will now include modern art in addition to classical and historic works.

Willmann said that the museum is seeking to draw 350,000 visitors in 2016, a goal he is confident will be achieved.

“We think it’s possible to reach 350,000 people, especially in the first two years because it will be new,” he said, “but we need to maintain that amount of visitors.... I don’t think too many Canadians really know about this and it’s our job to get them to discover the area."

“We know Canadians are already looking for culture, that’s why they choose Europe and France,” Paul-Hus said of the museum’s goals. “But it will all depend on the packages that tour operators are creating and whether they will allow for time to visit when they travel through France.”

PHOTO: Melanie Paul-Hus, Destination France; Alexandre Willmann, tourism and sales department manager, Musee Unterlinden; Jean-Christophe Harrang, business development manager - investment & promotion, Access Alsace; Yann Jadis, chief Ontario representative, Access Alsace.