Maison de la France, The French Government Tourist Office, along with its partners Air France, Rail Europe and the Normandy Tourist Board are embarking on Operation Open Arms, a 15-city media tour of the U.S., to promote travel to France. The tour begins March 2 in Houston, TX. In the days leading up to the first U.S. stop, French tourism officials and stars of the film, Operation Open Arms, are available for interviews and other coverage opportunities.

Operation Open Arms, a film that was made to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of D-Day, was inspired by the longstanding friendship between the United States and France. This same bond is the inspiration for the campaign of the same name. Our efforts will focus on two main goals - to ensure that American travelers know that they are welcome in France and to encourage them to take advantage of special travel deals, said Jean-Philippe Perol, Director of Maison de la France in the U.S. We want Americans to fall in love with France all over again!

Operations Open Arms will go to Houston, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Detroit, New Orleans, Washington D.C., Cincinnati, Boston, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Atlanta.

Interviews are available every day leading up to the March 2 kickoff with French tourism officials and D-Day veterans (as featured in Operation Open Arms.) Copies of the film are available for broadcast use on DVD and BETA.