Nice Première met with a Marseilles neighbor in the person of Jean Da Luz, who is the designer and mastermind behind TourMag.
Nice Première: Jean Da Luz, tell us a little about TourMag.com, TourMagazine.fr, and TourManager.fr?
Jean Da Luz: These three information platforms were created respectively in 1998, 2005, and 2006 for the latest. Each targets a very specific audience: tourism professionals for TourMaG.com, the general public eager for information on great plans for tourism and leisure for TourMagazine.fr, and business travelers for TourManager.fr.
NP: How did the idea come about to design portals on the world of tourism and travel?
JDL: We started in September 1998 with TourMaG.com, which became in a few years the leading platform for tourism professionals, with 22,000 daily subscribers and over 2 million page views/month today.
Then, the idea of a general public platform became evident. The two titles, although aimed at different audiences, are complementary. Additionally, there are very few internet portals with editorial and journalistic content intended to inform the general public about travel news. Most often, one finds commercial sites or sites whose information is monetized by sending clicks (infomediaries) to other commercial sites. We aim to provide the general public with our experience and expertise in this sector for free.”
NP: But if your distribution is free, how do you make a living?
JDL: “Exclusively with advertising. We are a free site which, thanks to its audience, can afford to live from it…”
NP: What has been your professional background?
JDL: “I am a professional journalist specializing in economics (tourism in particular). After creations in the economic press (‘La Lettre du Business’ for example which you must know in the region), I became a correspondent for economic publications before taking an interest in the tourism sector.”
NP: How many female and male colleagues does your team consist of?
JDL: “We have 8 full-time equivalent collaborators, including 2 people in the sales department, one in classifieds, and the others in editorial.”
NP: It is said that woman is the future of man, would the web be the future of tourism?
JDL: “Certainly. All specialists agree in recognizing that never have a media and an industrial sector been so in sync. The French are eagerly flocking to the Net to buy but above all to gather information about their upcoming vacations. And the emerging new technologies (virtual tours, 3D maps…) prove them right. Having said that, the Net is only a medium and travel follows precise rules that consumers cannot ignore. We are here to inform them about it.”
NP: What are Jean Da Luz’s projects in the coming months?
JDL: “We will soon launch a new site with electronic travel brochures that travel candidates can flip through like paper. No more need to travel to a travel agency… which does not mean doing without a travel agency. Indeed, we know from our own experience that the expertise of these professionals and their advice will become increasingly valuable as the online offer becomes more complex.”
NP: You are a Marseilles neighbor, is it not too difficult to be provincial in your sector?
JDL: “We do think that we might have gained a few precious months if we had been Parisians. Having said that, our commercial service is in constant contact with the capital where 99% of the business is conducted, and we are ready, given our quality of life, to accept the minor inconveniences of our enormous advantages…”
NP: What are the three basic pieces of advice you would give to a traveler?
JDL: “Inform yourself, seek advice, be wary. It appears that the average traveler is terribly lacking information even though it is available online and in travel agencies. They travel more and more but do not know the difference between a travel agency and a tour operator. As a result, they do not mistrust enough the dazzling (and not always honest) promises they may be subjected to online.”
NP: What are the key events in the world of tourism at the end of the year?
JDL: “A multitude of things that you will find every day on www.tourmagazine.fr which has a weekly (and of course free) Newsletter.”
NP: If I say Nice, you answer…?
JDL: “The birth of tourism in the modern sense of the term, the Promenade des Anglais, the Côte d’Azur and… Brice de Nice!”
NP: Finally, you have one wish and only one, what would it be?
JDL: “That OM wins the French Cup and the European Champions Cup. We can do (it) again!”
