The e-news from BORDEAUX GIRONDE CONVENTION BUREAU
Nr 27 - September 2006
The first half of the year ended on a very positive note for business tourism in Bordeaux and the Gironde department
The communication campaign that accompanied Bordeaux's ambitious urban development projects and the arrival of a new tramway (as well as the renovation of certain hotels, such as the Sofitel Aquitania, and the extension of others, like the Relais de Margaux), had a decided impact on Bordeaux and the Gironde, which are beginning to receive a return on their investment.
The Mercure Cité Mondiale hotel and convention centre experienced an 18.8% increase in turnover for the rental of function rooms and services linked to special events. This generated an overall 11.5% increase in turnover.
The activity of the Bordeaux Convention Centre and Hangar 14 rose by approximately 10% during the first half of 2006 compared with the same period in 2005. Meanwhile, business at the Bordeaux Exhibition Centre remained stable.
The Accor hotels in the Bordeaux-Lac district (Sofitel Aquitania, Novotel Lac, Mercure Lac, and Ibis Lac) had a 4% increase in occupancy and 5.3% in turnover. The Mercure Chateau Chartrons announces also plus 10%.
There was an overall increase of 7% in overnight stays in the Gironde in the first half of the year. The number of tourists visiting the four Bordeaux Tourist Information offices increased by 3.8%, accompanied by a 25.64% rise in vineyard tours. Furthermore, visits to the Bordeaux Tourist Office in August jumped by 20% compared to the previous year.
Fifty percent of visitors to Bordeaux are French and fifty percent come from abroad, mostly from Great Britain, Spain, the USA, Canada, Germany, and Asia.
"PLANET TASTING’’
Bordeaux is where it's at!!!
The news is out! Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur wines are the fashionable way of being switched on to Bordeaux – and you can discover these appellations at Planet Tasting.
In order to be closer to the needs of consumers, the winegrowers of these two appellations have developed an original approach to wine tasting.
Planet Tasting is directly inspired by the success of speed dating. Teams of three people meet, taste a wine, and exchange impressions. When the whistle blows, it's time to change players and wines! In this way, each participant discovers red, rosé, and white wines.
This is both an educational and fun way of discovering Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur wines.
Planet Tasting can also be an entertaining break during a meeting held in the Maison des Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur function rooms. Furthermore, a visit to the "Cellar of 1,001 Châteaux" will enable participants to go home with a selection of fine wines.
A newly renovated facility, the Maison des Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur is located just twenty minutes from Bordeaux, in the heart of vineyards. It also houses Planet Bordeaux, a wonderful introduction to the region's wines that welcomes more than 10,000 visitors all year round and has received "Best of Wine Tourism" awards for the last three years.
Every year at vintage time, and every day of the week, the Bouteiller family are pleased to offer tours of Château Lanessan's cellars.
This is an ideal opportunity to follow the transformation of grapes into wine, from the vineyard to the vat, by way of an innovative sorting table that enables workers to separate ripe grapes from underripe and split ones. Visitors will also become acquainted with the practice of pumping over and see the importance of laboratory analyses in monitoring the new wine.
CHATEAU LANESSAN also organises tastings of wines made from individual grape varieties and shows how a blend is greater than the sum of its parts… every day, all year round.
Tailor-made tours can end with a ride around the vineyards in a horse-drawn carriage and a visit to the horse museum.
Valérie and Catarina will be glad to deal with your requests, and we are well aware that our response must be in keeping with your image.
In June, Lacoste Traiteur catered meals at several major events revolving around Bordeaux wine: the Fête de la Fleur, the Bordeaux Wine Festival, and the inauguration of the CIVB (Bordeaux Wine Council) wine bar.
Every year, at the end of June, the flowering of the vines is celebrated at a gala evening at a wine chateau in the Médoc, Graves, or Sauternes regions. Organised by the Commanderie du Bontemps, the most important vinous brotherhood in Bordeaux, the Fête de la Fleur attracts between 1,000 and 1,500 guests: wine professionals, journalists, show business celebrities, politicians, and even royalty, who share their passion for Médoc, Graves, and Sauternes wines at a prestigious dinner. Unusually, the city of Bordeaux was the setting for the Fête de la Fleur during the Bordeaux Wine Festival in 2006. The Fête took place in the beautiful Jardin Public, and Lacoste Traiteur had the honour of catering at this prestigious event.
Lovers of wine, food, celebration, and culture were invited to share a friendly, joyous time at the Bordeaux Wine Festival. Created by the city of Bordeaux, this festival took place on the largest square in Europe, on the banks of the Garonne. Lacoste Traiteur provided refreshments to more than 1,000 visitors a day during this event.
The caterers also served dishes prepared by Thierry Marx (the chef at Château Cordeillan Bages, a 2-star Michelin restaurant) to 250 ‘’Ambassadors’’ (celebrities such as Boris Diaw, Christian Karambeu, Stéphane Bern, and Marie Anne Chazel) in 2006.
Futhermore, Lacoste Traiteur played an important role in the opening ceremony of the CIVB (Bordeaux Wine Council) wine bar, a stone's throw from the Grand Théâtre in the centre of town. Lacoste served food prepared by Michel Portos (chef at the Saint James, a 1-star Michelin restaurant) to 500 guests at this event.
The Bordeaux Convention Centre will be the venue for the second STEP, the Aquitaine region's business tourism exhibition, on the 7th and 8th of March, 2007.
In 2005, STEP brought together 110 exhibitors and nearly 1,000 visitors (73% from the world of business, 18% from local government, and 9 % from agencies).
In 2007, STEP will be even larger: 150 exhibitors on a much bigger area, as well as special events and pre-scheduled business meetings between exhibitors and visitors.
All the infrastructures and services the Aquitaine region has to offer to organisers of conventions, seminars, incentives, and trade fairs will be at STEP 2007.
Please make sure to note the 7th and 8th of March in your diaries in order to find the ideal place for your next congress or seminar.
If you would like advice about coming to Bordeaux, please do not hesitate to phone the Bordeaux Gironde Convention Bureau on +33 (0) 556 525 311.
Bordeaux, an international congress city? Of course, and more so with each passing year! This development is naturally accompanied by increased demand for conference interpreting.
Two members of the BGCB, EmagI Son and Aquitaine Traduction, are highly qualified professionals in this field. Multilingual meetings call for the appropriate equipment and competent technicians - which is what Emmanuel Girard at EmagI Son specialises in. Obviously, there is also a great need for teams of experienced conference interpreters in several languages, which is exactly what Alex and Christine Rychlewski at Aquitaine Traduction provide.
Not so long ago, event organisers needed to find this expertise outside the Bordeaux region. However, this time is long past. Bordeaux can now meet the needs of high-level meetings with participants from all over the world at the region's convention centres, hotels, and châteaux. You can count on the experience and professionalism of Aquitaine Traduction and ImagI Son for all your international conferences!
With 589,612 passengers over the summer months, Bordeaux Airport registered a 6.5% increase compared with the same period in 2005. Total traffic (2,146,630 passengers) for the first 8 months of the year was up 5.1%, placing Bordeaux among the busiest French regional airports.
International traffic since the beginning of the year increased by 11.3% compared to last year, with regularly-scheduled international flights doing particularly well. Flights to London increased by 23.4%, with 47,781 passengers, thanks to excellent results for British Airways links to Gatwick and their new route to Heathrow (1,845 passengers taking weekly flights on an Airbus A320). The opening of the new Bordeaux/Luton line with EasyJet in late June also contributed to this rise: 15,553 passengers (1 flight a day on a Boeing 737-400). In addition, flights to Munich increased by an impressive 49.7% (18,579 passengers), Madrid by 19.2% (11,880 passengers), Amsterdam by 29,9% (16,507 passengers), Dublin by 51.4% (11,807 passengers), and Stockholm by 34.2% (4,246 passengers).
Domestic traffic went up 3.3% in July and August 2006 (339,782 passengers) compared to 2005, and 2.3% from the beginning of the year. Flights to Paris also showed an increase: + 1.7% for Orly (131,108 passengers) and +1.9% for Roissy-Charles de Gaulle (83,822 passengers). Flights to most French destinations did well over the summer: 28,477 passengers (+17.2%) for Nice, 15,415 passengers (+4.6%), for Lille, 8,853 passengers (+9.8%) for Mulhouse, and 6,119 passengers (+61.2%).
The Bordeaux Gironde Convention Bureau welcomed a delegation of seven, German business tourism agencies for a presentation of the region on the 25th to the 27th of August. This operation was co-organised by Maison de la France Frankfurt and the German magazine, EVENTS.
Accompanied by Mélanie Göllner from the Bordeaux Gironde Convention Bureau, the group travelled throughout the region discovering not only its charms, but also its hotel facilities and congress centres. Lasting from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, the programme combined both technical visits and recreational activities.
Shortly after arriving at Bordeaux on Friday afternoon, the agency representatives were welcomed at the recently renovated Sofitel Aquitania hotel, where they spent their first night. After a visit to the Bordeaux Convention Centre and the Mercure Cité Mondiale hotel and congress centre, they were taken on a walking tour from the Chartrons district to the Grand Théâtre to enjoy their first glimpse of Bordeaux's famous architecture.
The agency representatives also had an opportunity to take a look at the impressive renovation going on at the Radisson SAS Grand Hôtel before dining at the Burdigala, another of Bordeaux's finest hotels.
Saturday was devoted to visiting the wine country. The group participated in Planet Tasting, a new activity at the Maison des Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieurs before going to the Médoc, where they stayed their second night at the Relais de Margaux. While there, they took in a tour and tasting at Château Lynch Bages and enjoyed dinner at Café Lavinal.
However, a stay in the Gironde would not be complete without a visit to Arcachon Bay, and more precisely to Cap Ferret. The day out included oyster tasting at Le Canon, a ride on a beautiful cycle path, a visit to the lighthouse, and ended with dinner in a restaurant near the jetty.
The participants were all charmed by the Bordeaux area, which they will now confidently propose to their clients.
The communication campaign that accompanied Bordeaux's ambitious urban development projects and the arrival of a new tramway (as well as the renovation of certain hotels, such as the Sofitel Aquitania, and the extension of others, like the Relais de Margaux), had a decided impact on Bordeaux and the Gironde, which are beginning to receive a return on their investment.
There was an overall increase of 7% in overnight stays in the Gironde in the first half of the year. The number of tourists visiting the four Bordeaux Tourist Information offices increased by 3.8%, accompanied by a 25.64% rise in vineyard tours. Furthermore, visits to the Bordeaux Tourist Office in August jumped by 20% compared to the previous year. 
The news is out! Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur wines are the fashionable way of being switched on to Bordeaux – and you can discover these appellations at 
Every year, at the end of June, the flowering of the vines is celebrated at a gala evening at a wine chateau in the Médoc, Graves, or Sauternes regions. Organised by the Commanderie du Bontemps, the most important vinous brotherhood in Bordeaux, the Fête de la Fleur attracts between 1,000 and 1,500 guests: wine professionals, journalists, show business celebrities, politicians, and even royalty, who share their passion for Médoc, Graves, and Sauternes wines at a prestigious dinner. Unusually, the city of Bordeaux was the setting for the Fête de la Fleur during the Bordeaux Wine Festival in 2006. The Fête took place in the beautiful Jardin Public, and 
Bordeaux, an international congress city? Of course, and more so with each passing year! This development is naturally accompanied by increased demand for conference interpreting. 
Not so long ago, event organisers needed to find this expertise outside the Bordeaux region. However, this time is long past. Bordeaux can now meet the needs of high-level meetings with participants from all over the world at the region's convention centres, hotels, and châteaux. You can count on the experience and professionalism of Aquitaine Traduction and ImagI Son for all your international conferences!
