France was powerfully represented once again at the 13th annual IMM in London, with 34 French brand partners – an increase from 2024. Organised by TravMedia, IMM is the world’s leading press networking event in the tourism sector and was held on 17 and 18 February 2025 at the QEII Centre, Westminster.
Atout France and its partners enjoyed renewing and strengthening their relationships with the UK and Irish media. Between them, the French delegation held close to 1,000 one-to-one meetings with journalists and content creators during the two-day event, presenting their latest news in a dedicated ‘France zone’, hosted by Atout France. With a total of 34 French brands and over 350 journalists and content creators in attendance, spirits were high and the media enthusiasm for France was palpable.
In addition to holding individual meetings, partners were able to attend the second TravMedia Summit entitled ‘The Great Media Reset’: a deep examination of AI and its current and future influence on the tourism industry. We heard from keynote speaker Graham Lovelace, Strategist and Founder of Charting Gen AI, which tracks key developments in generative AI and their impacts on human-made media, as well as the ethics and behaviour of the AIs. This was followed by four panel discussions led by top travel editors, freelance journalists, analysts and communications managers. The prevailing message echoed by all summit speakers was that even the most advanced AI is no substitute for the human brain and its emotions, sense of humour and capacity for connection. The advice given to both exhibitors and media was to take a human-centred approach in everything we do.
The provisional figures for France’s visitor numbers and revenue in 2024 are encouraging: 100 million international visitors (+2 million from 2023) and €71 billion in international revenue (+12% from 2023). The UK remained in the top three outbound markets for overnight stays in the first half of 2024. The outlook for the first quarter of 2025 is very positive, with an increase in visitor numbers: +10% in international air arrivals during Q1 and +7 percentage points in hotel occupancy in the capital in January. (Sources: INSEE, Comité Interministériel du Tourisme.)
The following French brands were present at IMM:
Aix-en-Provence – Annecy Mountains – Atlantic Loire Valley – Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Tourisme – Centre des Monuments Nationaux – Côte d’Azur France & Cannes – Destination Limoges | For Rêveurs Only – Destination Luberon – Destination Orléans Loire Valley & Loire Valley – Dijon Bourgogne Tourisme & Congrès – Dordogne Valley – Drôme Provençale – Explore France – Hello Lille – Ile de Ré – Le Voyage à Nantes – Marseille Tourist Office – Mayenne–Sarthe – Normandy Tourism – Nouvelle-Aquitaine Tourism Board – Office de Tourisme et Congrès de Montpellier Méditerranée – Pas-de-Calais Tourism – Puy du Fou – Tarn Tourism & Tarn-et-Garonne Tourism – Vallée de la Gastronomie-France – Vaucluse Provence Tourism & Avignon – Vendée & Les Sables-d’Olonne
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