A Festival approved by the Grand Tour

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Mr Laurent Fabius, has charged Mr Olivier Poivre d’Arvor with task of promoting France’s cultural appeal. Mr Poivre d’Arvor has chosen to do so by organizing the GRAND TOUR, an ambitious cultural event that will unroll across the country in forty or so stages between January and July 2016. France is the most visited country in the world due to its astonishing wealth of tourist attractions, its incomparable range of cultural interests, more than 1200 museums, 1500 festivals, 14,100 classified monuments, 41 UNESCO World Heritage sites, etc. And also due to our capacity to welcome the cultures of others. Because it translates all foreign literatures and philosophies, France is the greatest bookshop in the world; it is also the largest cinema, the most extensive art gallery, the biggest theatre and the greatest festival site, without forgetting the 300,000 foreign students who make France the third most popular university destination in the world. The goal of the GRAND TOUR is to publicize and demonstrate, to develop and boost, our country’s cultural appeal. The Ministry’s network of agents is using the GRAND TOUR as a medium to boost their operations in France and abroad, and the most important festivals open to world culture have agreed to become partners and stages in a GRAND TOUR approved cultural agenda that will help to heighten the tourist appeal of their area. A forum has been planned for 9 March in Paris, called “France, Made in Culture”, which will be attended by those operating in the cultural, political and economic spheres. Its purpose will be to help develop a first set of recommendations for implementing a framework for cultural appeal that will stimulate territorial, economic and tourist development in France.