At the European Tourism Trends Show (SETT) held at the Pérols Exhibition Centre, Paulette Gougeon, Mayor of Lunel, accompanied by Gilles Flutet, deputy mayor for attractiveness, and Corinne Poleri, deputy mayor for culture, met with tourism stakeholders to present the municipality's strategic orientations for 2027. The ambition is to strengthen Lunel's tourism and economic appeal while progressively adapting public spaces and offerings to climate change and evolving lifestyles, in collaboration with local stakeholders.
Welcomed at the stand of the Occitanie Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the City clearly stated its ambition: already classified as a tourist town, Lunel aims to achieve official resort town status.
Despite a high accommodation occupancy rate this summer (83.03% in August) and an annual rate of 66.34% above regional averages, the summer season was affected by episodes of intense heat. In response to this national and local observation, the City of Lunel is choosing anticipation and consultation with regional stakeholders to adapt its tourism offerings.
The municipality is deploying a strategy focused on three key areas to adapt the offer to new visitor habits: climate transition, by developing cooler public spaces (shade zones, misting systems) and shifting major events and Camargue traditions to late afternoons or evenings; season extension, to smooth tourist flows throughout the year, particularly in spring and autumn; and communication, through a shift in event communication, digitalization of materials, interactive games, public space decorations, and collaboration with local businesses.
The 2027 event calendar will also incorporate novelties, particularly evening events. The Festival des Arènes, managed by Maestria Organisation, is changing its name, visual identity, and theme, and will now take place on the first weekend of September. The Pescalune festival will move to nocturnal hours for its bullfighting and musical events.
An innovative communication strategy, « Noël à Lunel, J’adooore » (Christmas in Lunel, I love it), will be launched to support local commerce. This digitalized strategy, based on the territorial brand « Lunel J’adooore », aims to promote Lunel and its assets to residents, neighboring communities, regional visitors, and future tourists. It will leverage three major commercial events while broadly supporting cultural and event programming (Christmas, Lunel markets, and sales periods).
