editorial
Spinning the Web for tourism

Aquitaine, land of mixing waters, with the Gironde estuary, the Garonne, the Dordogne, the Isle, the Lot, the Baïse, the Adour and the Canal des Deux Mers, forms one of the biggest cruising areas in France. By the extent of this network, the diversity of the valley landscapes and the quality of the cultural, architectural and environmental heritage related to the waterways, Aquitaine has a significant potential for development of tourism on and around the waterways, and it is determined to exploit this potential, in particular through the forthcoming Planning Contract between the State and the Region.
Connected by the Canal Latéral à la Garonne, the rivers Baïse and Lot are both the subject of ambitious programmes to restore navigability and develop waterside sites.
Aquitaine Region is also preparing other waterway-based programmes on the Dordogne, the Isle and the tidal river Adour, with the essential aim of developing tourism and securing wider economic impacts in attractive related areas. To revive a waterway, through its development, its enhancement, its promotion, is to breathe new life into the whole area.
This is why Aquitaine wanted to play an active role in promoting the vast waterway network, by instructing its Regional Tourism Board to organise concerted interregional promotion under the label "Rivières et Canaux du Midi"; hence also its firm commitment to the European programme "Voies d'Eau Vivantes". Our information and communication actions were deliberately designed to use the tools of the future, in order to broaden our clientele and offer it better services. The idea is thus to find a technical response that is adapted to the tourist's information needs, to pay careful attention to the relevance of all contents and their updating, and to do research into the procedures for making commercial information available on the Net.
We are also convinced that the objectives of selling a tourist destination, attracting new clients and increasing rates of occupancy are all the more easily attained where the product is clearly identified. Thus the research into a relevant and coherent labelling of our products appears to be an essential prerequisite to development in this sector.
Aquitaine thus fully adheres to the interregional strategy and looks forward with enthusiasm to successful conclusion of this valuable experiment in promotion of tourism, made possible by the European programme Voies d'Eau Vivantes.

Alain Rousset
Président du Conseil Régional d'Aquitaine