French government joins forces with Netflix to attract tourists – Technologist

In the southern French town of Villefranche-de-Rouergue, filming of the Netflix series All the Light We Cannot See didn’t go unnoticed. Streets were transformed, shops redecorated. “It was quite something!” recalled Mayor Jean-Sébastien Orcibal. He estimates the economic spin-offs from the month-long shoot – showcasing the town’s medieval streets and arcaded squares – at €2 million.

Now, the town council would like to capitalize on the success of this series (50 million views) to attract tourists and has even created a specific brochure. But you’ll still need to learn of the town – because this fictional series is not supposed to be taking place in Villefranche-de-Rouergue. In the series, the town we see on screen is presented as… Saint-Malo, a port city in Brittany.

That’s why the mayor is delighted with the tourist guide launched on Thursday, February 1, by Netflix in partnership with Atout France, the government agency dedicated to tourism. The guide promotes filming locations of movies and series produced by the platform. In addition to Villefranche-de-Rouergue, you’ll learn that the Château de Chantilly, in northern France, was the setting for The Gray Man; that Chaalis Abbey, also in the same area, was the setting for Family Business; and that the church of Saint-ulien-le-Pauvre, in Paris, appears in Berlin. Lupin also passed through the Nissim-de-Camondo Museum in Paris, and it was in Bonnieux that Emily (from the Emily in Paris series) made her Provencal getaway.

‘Very positive contribution’

“We refused to include certain sites exposed to over-tourism, such as the cliffs of Etretat seen in Lupin, or the bakery in Emily in Paris,” said Caroline Leboucher, director of Atout France. The online guide is complemented by a Government Information Service-supported Netflix commercial promoting tourism in France.

As Netflix finances around 20 French productions a year, seeking the French state’s support in this communications campaign is a way for the platform to assert its political clout. “Netflix’s contribution to France’s cultural attractiveness is very positive, and we wanted to reinforce that,” explained Marie-Laure Daridan, director of public relations at Netflix. The platform financed a survey of 2,250 people in Germany, Japan and the United States, showing that having already seen French films (or films shot in France) in its catalog has a decisive effect on the desire to get to know France, to travel there and even to learn the language.

By associating itself with this campaign, Atout France – which had already begun to use the “soft power” of films in its communications – sees a way of “taking advantage of Netflix’s firepower to reach new audiences,” said Leboucher. Especially as film tourism – traveling to places seen on screen – is a booming phenomenon.

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