Despite the immutable popularity
of the main centers of the Russian tourism in France – Paris
and Nice, the interest to other regions of France among our tourists is
slightly growing. Thus, in 2011, the hotels of Champagne-Ardennes province welcomed
about 3.5 thousand Russian tourists, which doesn’t include the participants of bus
tours who didn’t stay in the hotels. In comparison with the whole amount of
Russians who visited France
during the year, it’s not a lot. But several years ago Russians in the Champagne were exotic.
Last week representatives of
tourism, hotels and tour agencies of the Champagne-Ardennes region visited Moscow and carried out a
workshop for tour operators.
The location of Champagne-Ardennes
region to the North-West of Paris is very convenient for tourists who come
there. As a rule, it’s visited by those who came to Paris for a week and want to diversify their
trip. The capital of France
and the city of Reims,
the Champagne capital, is separated by 150 km, which can be covered in just 45 minutes
by a high-speed TGV train. One can get to Epernay
on a train in 30 minutes, and then by bus or car to Troyes. All these three cities are major
tourist centers. All in all about four million tourists a year visit this
region.
The main tour products of Champagne are sightseeing
tours and trips to local vineyards featuring champagne samplings in numerous
wine cellars. Tourists are attracted by staying in medieval castles-hotels,
golf fields and amusement parks as well.
“Russians, who come to the
region, always buy champagne, and the expensive ones. A good champagne can be
bought here for even 15 euro, but Russian tourists prefer bottles for 80 euro
and those of the most popular brands – Moet, Veuve Clicquot and others. At the
same time, they’re not interested in sampling for some reason. Most Russians
come by car from Paris or other European
countries – Germany, Benelux. Tourists who come to Champagne with bus tours,
spend no more than 30 minutes in Reims, they make photos with the cathedral and
go further”, - told the representative of the office of the region’s tourism to
RATA-news.
