Tourism and Creative Industries: a world-renowned region at the crossroads of culture, tourism and digital technology

The Sud region enjoys an array of significant assets in the Tourism and Creative Industries sector: internationally acclaimed destinations, an accessible and connected territory, a diversified tourist offer, glorious natural landscapes, exceptional weather conditions, and an important focus on R&D and training in the audiovisual and multimedia fields.

Among the many advantages of the Sud region are its creative and sustainable territories, accessible and friendly cities and towns, valued and respected heritage, distinctive and diverse tourist attractions, strong local cultural roots, and clear connections between culture, tourism, and digital technology.

The regional growth strategy focuses on a distinctive “client journey” based on authentic experiences, easy mobility, and respect for the environment. To meet these goals, eight specific themes are being further developed in the region:

wine tourism
major events and business tourism
heritage
museums and art galleries
cultural activities
mountain tourism
experiential tourism
image & content industries

The sector in a few key numbers

31 million
tourists welcomed in 2018,
including 9 million international visitors

#2 region
for international overnight stays

#2 region
for the cinema and audiovisual industry, and for film shoots (30 hectares of studios)

€18.9 billion
regional tourism turnover 2018
or 13% of GDP

1800
cultural events per year,
380 summer festivals

3 global brands:
Provence, the Alps, and the Côte d’Azur

Innovations in the Tourism and Creative Industries sector

The competitiveness clusters and hubs operating in the Sud region’s Tourism and Creative Industries sector feature world-renowned expertise and are key motors for growth and innovation. Thanks to their networks in the region, across France, and around the world, they will be able to assist you with your project and ensure it meets all its goals.

ICP (Cultural Industries and Heritage)

The Industries Culturelles et Patrimoines (ICP) cluster is a network of 69 member structures that work for the preservation, restoration, and enhancement of natural, material, and intangible culture and heritage. In 2015, the cluster opened its Archeomed® business center. Today, 19 of the cluster’s member companies are based at the center.

Pôle Culture et Patrimoines

Provence Cote d'Azur Events

The PCE cluster (Provence Cote d’Azur Events/Business and Convention Tourism) brings together professionals in the events industry. The cluster aims to unite the region’s stakeholders and carry out joint actions to gain market share, attract professional events, and create and maintain jobs in the region’s event industry.

Provence Côte d’Azur Events

La Commission Régionale du Film

The Commission Régionale du Film leads and coordinates a network of nearly 20 film commissions or filming offices across the territory. Its mission is to:

promote the territory and its resources (authors, directors, technicians, service providers, actors, producers, shooting locations).
organize the regional delegation at national and international fairs and festivals.
monitor the human and material resources of the region in the different sectors of the cinema and audiovisual industry.
provide a directory of resources to support production companies and film crews

Commission régionale du film

Arsud

Arsud is the regional agency for the performing arts, and it offers comprehensive programs to support cultural organizations. Arsud is a flagbearer for the territory’s cultural projects and helps give concrete form and genuine value to the regional cultural policy. Arsud is an essential partner for cultural professionals in the Sud region.

Arsud

CNC (national center for cinema and animation)

The CNC (national center for cinema and animation) encourages the promotion and distribution of works to a broad audience thanks to a system of support and financial aid for distribution in cinemas, non-commercial distribution, and participation in national and international events.

CNC

Agence Régionale du Livre

The Agence Régionale du Livre provides free guidance and support to project leaders in the publishing sector, including personalized meetings, legal assistance, management consulting, and support for digital strategies. The agency organizes professional training modules and inter-professional days aimed at addressing issues facing the publishing industry. It also brings together the region’s stakeholders and establishes links with national organizations.

Agence Régionale du Livre Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur

The diverse array of stakeholders involved in the Tourism and Creative Industries strategic sector are contributing to the emergence of large-scale projects across the region. Among the many innovative projects:

Villa Créative Supramuros

The Villa Créative Supramuros – UAPV is a project to create an iconic site for cultural and creative industries and a third space dedicated to the intersection between academic research and the creative economy. Supramuros will be at the heart of the Campus des Métiers et Qualifications training facility dedicated to cultural and digital professions, and it will be located at the Avignon University’s Pasteur site. It will initially be home to a support structure/accelerator for business creation, the ISTS (institute of performing arts technology) training platform, the Festival d’Avignon, and a living lab.

Supramuros

Studios de la Victorine

Studios de la Victorine embodies a new strategy for film studios that aims to diversify by bringing together training, research, and production activities. The project is a living space where filmmaking can be combined with spaces to welcome the general public. The studios are equipped with ten sound stages ranging from 400m² to 1200m². There are also many services available on-site: workrooms, storage, outdoor areas, shops, dressing rooms, offices, parking, restaurant, a helicopter connection… The site is home to well-established suppliers and subcontractors that provide all the services required by the film industry.

Studios de la Victorine

Créa creative industries hub

The Créa image and creative industries hub in Cannes is an entrepreneurial cluster that includes an incubator, a business center, and coworking spaces. It also has a student residence.

Créa Cannes

Provence-Côte d’Azur Events – Major Events

The major events department of Provence-Côte d’Azur Events works to attract important professional events to the region. The department and its services are supported by the Provence-Côte d’Azur Events cluster. This service offers personalized support during the application process to organize an event in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, implements a task force to help get the application shortlisted, and mobilizes political and economic stakeholders in the relevant ecosystem for a distinctive and persuasive candidacy.

Provence-Côte d’Azur Events

Festival d’Avignon brand development

The brand development company promotes the worldwide brand of the Festival d’Avignon theater festival. Festivals are not only major cultural events, but also global tourism brands that act as motors for economic development. The objective of the project is:

to enhance and promote the extraordinary intangible asset represented by festival activities
to develop a brand strategy
to create new products and services, particularly in collaboration with start-ups
to promote the cultural content

Les Orres sports & leisure center

Les Orres sports & leisure center is a project for the development of an all-weather center based on mountain sports and activities. The site includes an outdoor adventure park and an accelerator for projects involving innovative new mountain activities. The project showcases outdoor activities in the Pays Serre-Ponçon Ubaye Durance valley, from mountain sports to water sports to air sports.

Les Orres

Tourism and Travel Campus

The Voyage Privé travel company has launched a project to build a campus dedicated to e-tourism professions. It will be located in the new digital and technology zone in the center of Aix-en-Provence. This project includes the creation of the “Tremplins de l’Innovation”, the first accelerator that focuses on the e-tourism industry. The campus will create jobs, foster loyalty, provide training, stimulate new ideas, and integrate new technologies.

Notre vision | Voyage Privé Groupe

The iconic sites

In addition to the wealth of competitiveness clusters, hubs, and large-scale projects in the Sud region, there are other important stakeholders that foster development and innovation in the Tourism and Creative Industries sector:

Telomedia

Telomedia is a platform for audiovisual and digital production based at the University of Toulon. Telomedia is a 900m2 platform entirely dedicated to the creation, production, and broadcasting of audiovisual and digital works, as well as to training and research. Its main advantages lie in the modular nature of its 370m2 film set that can be divided into four independent spaces, its coupling with three broadcasting spaces shared with other campus courses, its post-production tools, and its virtual studio.

Telomédia

Belle de Mai media hub

The Pôle Média Belle de Mai Marseille is a unique space for companies working in the creative industries. With a total surface area of 23 000m2, the media hub has been established as the place to be for image, sound, and multimedia activities in the Sud region. Since its creation in 2004, approximately 50 companies have located their offices to the hub, and they account for nearly 1000 jobs. The Studios de Marseille offers four dedicated film sets with sizes of 350m2, 600m2, 800m2, and 1000m2.

Pôle Média – La Friche

Provence Studios

Located in the heart of the Aix-Marseille metro area, Provence Studios is a 22-hectare space dedicated to the audiovisual production industry. It has a main structure of 26 000m2 that includes several filming spaces, the largest of which is 2400m2. There are also workspaces, a carpenter’s workshop, dressing rooms, production offices, and indoor and outdoor shooting facilities.

Provence Studios

Serre Chevalier Valley

Serre Chevalier Valley is a mountain area in the Hautes-Alpes department of France. The valley lies between the Lautaret Pass and the city of Briançon, and borders Italy. Serre Chevalier Valley extends over 15km and includes:

Briançon, which has received official recognition as a City of Art and History, and its Vauban fortifications are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Three landmark villages: Chantemerle, Villeneuve, and Monêtier les Bains
13 traditional hamlets

The Serre Chevalier ski area offers 410 hectares of developed area. It has a total area of 3901 hectares, as well as 250 kilometers of ski slopes situated between 1200 and 2830 meters above sea level. There are many and different activities in the summer and winter.

Serre Chevalier

A network of essential stakeholders in the Sud region

This map shows a selection of the organizations, projects, platforms, business parks, and institutions that are essential for the Tourism and Creative Industries sector in the Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.

Major companies in the Tourism and Creative Industries sector

The Sud region has a complete research and innovation ecosystem dedicated to the Tourism and Creative Industries sector. There is a diverse range of dynamic companies that are a great source of opportunities and partnerships. Here are a few examples of the many companies with tourist, cultural, or innovative sites in the Sud region: A-Corros Expertise, Actes Sud, Amadeus, Black and Dark Euphoria, Groupe F, Les Films du Soleil, Provence Studios, Voyage Privé…

There are also numerous SMEs and start-ups across the region, including: BOOKmyHELO, Egencia, Dreamlines.fr, GEW, iFLY, Vacasa…

Tourism and Creative Industries, in their words!

“Bookstores are essential because at a time where there is a varied and highly diverse selection of material available on digital platforms, they provide a unique positive discrimination and an advisory relationship where the reader expects his or her neighborhood bookstore to be able to curate the best options in regard to paper formats.”
Bertrand Py, Actes Sud, Arles

“The Mucem is a national museum, but it has always been anchored in Marseille and considered a key part of the renewal of the city’s coastline. For me, MP 2013* was a ‘crash course’ in the territory’s history and culture.”
(* MP 2013: Marseille Provence 2013, European Capital of Culture)
Jean-François Chougnet, President of Mucem

“At 36, I wanted to be an entrepreneur to help change the world and to change my region, my city (Aix-en-Provence), and my territory. To do this, I re-entered business, and with some friends (…), I created a company called Voyage Privé.com… We made two decisions: the first was to involve all employees in the company’s capital (…) and the second was to launch four social initiatives:

the creation of an incubator for social issues
the opening of a foundation (to support children in the neighborhoods and training through sports)
the launch of a strong local project: takeover of a rugby club for the training of young people
and finally, the creation of a campus that will house all these initiatives

Today, we are succeeding in our economic transformation, but we also need to transform our society.”
Denis Philippon, president of Voyage Privé.com, Bpifrance Inno Génération, Aix-en-Provence

“In Provence, we have a broad network of cultural workers and performers, along with experienced audiovisual technicians, (…) we have fantastic lighting, road, and airport infrastructure, the TGV high-speed train, landscapes that can lend themselves to all kinds of natural settings, sites where you think you’re in Africa, others where you feel like you’re on the moon. And in Martigues, here at Provence Studios, we have 26 000m2 of premises spread over 22 hectares along the banks of the Caronte canal and several film sets, including a 2400m2 green-screen studio, set construction facilities, permanent sets, and two 18 000m2 backlots for exterior sets… In short, this is the place to be.”
Olivier Marchetti, President of Provence Studios, Martigues

Interview with Jean Tripier, CEO and co-founder of FLYR, to learn more about the intention economy and his vision of innovation in tourism:

The major recurring events related to the Tourism and Creative Industries sector in the Sud region

The Sud region and its neighboring territories host a wide range of trade shows and events to support and develop the Tourism and Creative Industries sector. A few examples of the events:

Into Days

Into Days is a tourism industry event that welcomes professionals from all over the world to discuss the challenges of a sector that continues to grow and transform while also taking a leading role in the economic and social development of territories. Into Days also acts as a showcase for tourism professionals by using a unique approach that creates dedicated spaces based on major tourism themes.

Date: TBA
Location: Cannes, France

Festival de Cannes

The Festival de Cannes is the world’s largest film festival. In addition to the screening of the official selection of films shown in previews, it is also the largest film market in the world: producers, distributors and international sellers meet there every year for ten days in May.

Dates: May 2022
Location: Cannes, France

Festival de Cannes

SIPPA

Created in 2015, SIPPA (the international symposium for heritage professionals) is an annual event related to the world of cultural heritage. It offers professionals and the general public moments of exchange and sharing to discover innovations, promote expertise, and discuss the evolution of the cultural and heritage professions.

Dates: 29 September – 3 October 2021
Location: Arles, France

Sippa

Selection of documentation about the sector

A wide variety of support documents are available to provide information and help promote this sector. We propose a selection of the most informative documents so you can discover the richness of the Tourism and Creative Industries ecosystem.

Download in French

Download in English

Sector Brochure

A general summary of the sector that is appropriate for any type of event. Four pages, in French and in English.

Download in French

Panorama

An economic overview of the Tourism and Creative Industries strategic sector (key figures, business networks, major contractors and companies, main assets of the territory …). Document of more than 115 pages, in French.

Download in French

Benchmark

Comparison of the regional sector with other French or international regions of comparable size and/or comparable sector of activity. Document of close to 90 pages, in French.

Download in French

Download in English

Keynote

Presentation of the Tourism and Creative Industries strategic sector. Document of close to 35 pages, in French and English.

Download in French

Download in English

Visit Program

Listing of the major projects, platforms, clusters, and iconic sites connected to this sector. This document illustrates some of the most important places in this sector and provides you with a comprehensive overview that will give you a clearer idea of some of the region’s assets. Document of nearly 30 pages, in French and English.

Discover the other sectors of excellence

Sector of Excellence: Tourism and Creative Industries

Tourism and Creative Industries: a world-renowned region at the crossroads of culture, tourism and digital technology

The sector in a few key numbers

Innovations in the Tourism and Creative Industries sector

The iconic sites

A network of essential stakeholders in the Sud region

Major companies in the Tourism and Creative Industries sector

Tourism and Creative Industries, in their words!

The major recurring events related to the Tourism and Creative Industries sector in the Sud region

Selection of documentation about the sector

Sector Brochure

Panorama

Benchmark

Keynote

Visit Program