A club bringing together local tourism stakeholders since 1933, SKAL Côte d’Azur invited a large part of its members to a reunion evening at IT VILLAGIO in Cap 3000. The goal? To introduce new members, but also to work together to rekindle tourism in the region. Nicolle Martin, the club president, talks to us about the challenges ahead this year, but also the confidence she has in her members to make this area attractive again.
NP: How many members have you gained since you took the lead of this club?
NM: I’ve been in charge since September 2018. At that time, there were only nine members. It was only a matter of time before it closed due to a lack of people. But I managed to attract people, and today I am proud to say that we are about a hundred strong. I will even have to slow down memberships to maintain the familial aspect of our club.
NP: How has your club evolved this year?
NM: First of all, despite the lockdown, I’ve had five new memberships. So I’m happy to see that people are still interested, given the context. Additionally, we focus a lot on “B2B” (Business to Business, editor’s note). This means that at our monthly meetings, members discuss and exchange business cards to conduct business with one another, to help each other. For example, a hotelier may work with a restaurateur, who will also work with a travel agency, and so on. Moreover, our club has evolved over time because it used to be almost exclusively retirees who were members. We’ve shifted from an aging SKAL to a SKAL with members ranging from 25 to 65 years old. All continue their activities and are therefore very involved.
NP: You’ve been the president of SKAL Côte d’Azur for two years now, but why is 2020 going to be a tougher year for you?
NM: May is dead. June as well. For July, with the 14th, there should be the reopening of borders, and for now, hotel reservations are encouraging. So, for me, the season will really start in the following weeks and, at least we hope, we’re going to have a very good August and September if Covid-19 leaves us alone. If everything goes as planned, we’ll manage to reach November 15 (beginning of the slower season) just like other years. It’s mostly events and business tourism that have been impacted. But regarding leisure tourism, things should go well.
NP: What have been the biggest losses in the tourism sector so far?
NM: In two months, many events have been canceled or partially canceled. Just the Monaco Grand Prix had a massive impact. But we can also mention the Cannes Film Festival and other exhibitions in the same city, as well as the Carnival. Or even the Lemon Festival.
NP: Are tourism stakeholders going to adapt their offers for this unusual year?
NM: In our recovery plan, we have created hotel packages with our members in the field. We distributed them in the four hundred SKAL clubs worldwide. They have very attractive prices for the summer period, to entice people to discover new places.
