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Herve Novelli, Secretary of State for Commerce, Artisanal industry, Small and Mid-sized Business and Tourism, presided this morning over the general assembly of Maison de la France who confirmed the creation of Atout France, a new association, the France tourism development agency.
Formed by the merger of Maison de la France, the promotional agency for foreign travel to France, and ODIT France, the tourism engineering agency, Atout France is now the sole national organisation for the tourism sector. Atout France has ambitious plans for a better coordinated and more efficient public policy in order to respond to the challenges posed toy French tourism.
The government bill for development and modernization of tourism services that was unanimously adopted by the Senate on April 9, 2009 and will be reviewed by the National Assembly in June, makes provisions for new missions, most notably the classification of tourism accommodations and the maintenance of a registry of travel agencies.
Atout France will continue to be responsible for tourism engineering, economic observation and promotion that was formerly handled by Maison de la France and ODIT France. It will also develop its international and educational activities.
As an association of public and private interests (in French groupement d’interet economique), Atout France aims to build on the successful experience gained in partnership administration as seen with Bienvenue France in the 1980s and by Maison de la France since 1987 and ODIT France since 2006.
It is this unique and original model of public and private partnership that allows for a successful implementation of public policies.
The new corporate logo, used for communication to professionals, will have the distinction of always appearing with the France brand that was introduced on the occasion of the National Tourism Conference in June 2008. The France brand alone will be used for all consumer advertising and promotional materials.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
