A partnership of French companies that was launched last year to boost tourism to the country redoubled its efforts last week, debuting a social-media campaign designed to spur Paris visitation in the aftermath of the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks that killed 129 people.
Alliance 46.2 (the number is a reference to France's latitude) was formed in February 2014 and includes AccorHotels, Euro Disney, Aeroports de Paris and Club Med.
The group launched what it called "an institutional solidarity campaign" to tout Paris' qualities while reassuring potential visitors that it is safe to travel there. The viral campaign, which is based on user-generated content, will center on the hashtag #ParisWeLoveYou. It includes a new website, Parisweloveyou.fr, as well as the tagline "Paris Will Always Be Unique."
Within two days of the campaign launch, the #ParisWeLoveYou hashtag had received more than 10,000 mentions. In-stagram alone saw more than 4,500 posts.
"The main goal of the campaign is to remind people of the true image of Paris; to reassure, too, to show that life goes on in Paris and that the city is still beautiful," said Alliance 46.2 spokesman Frederic Pierret. "Moreover, it's not us who say that but the users who participate in the campaign."
As part of the effort, about 30 public and private entities joined Alliance 46.2's original group of 19 companies as part of the campaign. They include Air France, hotelier Barriere, cosmetics giant L'Oreal and advertising company JCDecaux.
The group maintained its goal is to draw 100 million annual tourists to France by 2020 while attempting to regain the tourism momentum that had been driving travel spending to Europe all year.
With Paris as its geographic center and primary travel hub, Europe drew 4.3% more international tourists through August than it had drawn a year earlier, according to the U.N. World Travel Organization.
In August, the French forecast inbound tourism numbers would reach a record 85 million this year.
But the Nov. 13 attacks immediately reduced travel to Paris, and its effects were still being felt this month. In the week after the attacks, the city's hotel occupancy, which had been about 85% in October, was down 20 to 30 percentage points relative to a year earlier, according to the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau and MKG Hospitality.
Airline ticket sales to Paris, which had been up 20% year over year the week prior to the attacks, fell 11% from a year earlier the week after the attacks (Nov. 15 to 21), while year-over-year ticket sales were down 9% and 28% during the ensuing two weeks, respectively, according to ARC.
Alliance 46.2 is looking to help reverse those effects for 2016 by providing a platform for current and past travelers to Paris to show their support for the city while highlighting its culture, history and beauty.
To that end, the campaign will focus on the positive and won't include any references to safety concerns, said Pierret, who cited the lack of incidents at the United Nations' recent COP21 climate-change conference as proof that the city is safe.
"There will be no focus on safety simply because Paris safely hosted more than 100 heads of state and government as well as 30,000 delegates to COP21 for 11 days," Pierret said. "Paris today is one of the safest cities in the world."