2023-04-23 14:03:11
The Occitanie region is launching a range of initiatives, in particular its pass which allows unlimited train travel from 10 euros per day.
The summer holidays are approaching and the French have to make decisions. Inflation is driving up airline ticket prices while gasoline remains at high levels. Once once more, the train appears to be the ideal solution for getting around and doing tourism.
The Occitanie region has understood this well. Last year, in a logic of preservation of purchasing power and modal shift, it launched the “1 euro tickets” operation on the first weekend of each month. Result: 1.8 million regional tickets sold and above all 20 million euros generated in the region’s leisure activities.
1.8 million €1 tickets sold
For this summer, she intends to continue to surf on this growing appetite for the train and attract tourists from all over France.
First, by strengthening the supply of trains in the region through an agreement with the SNCF: the number of these trains will thus increase by 24% with the ambition of going from 80,000 passengers per day to 100,000.
Above all, in the continuity of the 1 euro ticket, the region renews and enriches the “Occitanie Rail Tour” from today available online (and only through this).
It is offered at the price of 10 euros per day for unlimited travel, from 2 to 6 days, in Occitanie on board trains in the region on 19 identified lines combining sea, mountains, towns and villages through 150 stopover stations. Naturally, TGV and Intercités are not concerned.
To take advantage of it, it must be used for at least two consecutive days, its minimum rate is therefore 20 euros, or 10 euros per day. A flat-rate approach that is multiplying in several European countries such as Germany.
Attract international tourists as well
If the objective is to attract French tourists, the region is also eyeing the international: the dedicated site is accessible in English and Spanish while the Michelin Guide has published an edition “Le Tour de l’Occitanie en train”.
“With the Occitanie Rail Tour, our destination is taking a step ahead and confirming its desire to become THE sustainable tourist destination par excellence”, sums up Vincent Garel, president of CRTL Occitanie (Regional Committee for Tourism and Leisure in Occitanie) .
This initiative is blessed bread for the SNCF. “The Occitanie Rail Tour is a magnificent innovative project, which we are proud to support as a train operator in the Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée Region. Occitanie can count on us by its side to win the train and to, thanks to the train, bring out a new model of sustainable tourism”, comments Christophe Fanichet, CEO of SNCF Voyageurs.
Occitania: first region to test the hybrid train
If the region relies heavily on the train, it wants it to be as clean as possible. Because as in many regions, the small lines are not or little electrified and the TER which circulate have diesel engines, therefore polluting.
Since the beginning of April, the region has therefore been testing the first hybrid TER in France. In this type of train, half of the combustion engines have been replaced by electric batteries. This will reduce fuel consumption by 20%.
In addition to Occitanie, the Grand Est, Nouvelle Aquitaine and Center Val-de-Loire regions are also involved in a partnership with SNCF and Alstom around these trains. But no firm order from regions has yet been signed.
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