Between July 2013 and June 2014, a Franco-Belgian study examined attendance at eleven sites in the region linked to the First World War. The Canadian Vimy Memorial is far ahead with 226,000 visitors over the period studied.
The Festival of Lights 2022 in Lyon
The study conducted by the Westhoek tourist organization in Belgium and the regional tourism committee is not perfect. All places of remembrance of the First World War in Nord Pas de Calais do not have a meter, and Our Lady of Loretothe largest French military necropolis, is not included.
These pitfalls identified, this Franco-Belgian study conducted for a year (between July 2013 and June 2014) on the frequentation of places of memory clearly marks the preponderance of canadian memorial Vimy, well ahead of the charts. 226,000 visitors visited it during the period, 4 times more than the second site on the list, the Arras Wellington Quarry and its 56,900 visitors.
The Pas-de-Calais and its six sites studied attracts many more people (346,700 visits) than the Nord (44,000) which has five.
The effects of the commemoration of the Great War are already being felt with a steady increase in visits since February.
More foreign tourists in Pas-de-Calais
Still according to this study, the places of memory of the Pas-de-Calais attract a majority of foreign tourists (70%), British in the lead (39%). Those of Nord are visited rather by French (58%), the Australians being the most represented foreign nationality, due to the presence of the Australian cemetery of Fromelles.
Half of tourists visit these sites individually (48% for Nord44 for the Pas-de-Calais), and are between 50 and 64 years old. School groups come just behind with an average of 37% in the region.
A windfall for the tourism economy
During the period studied, visitors Great War spent 57M€ in the Nord – Pas-de-Calais and the Somme. Accommodation is the top spender (42%), followed by restaurants and cafes (27%). Unsurprisingly, the visitors who spend the most are those who stay in the region.
Manne to which should contribute in the coming months the great forgotten of this list, the necropolis of Our Lady of Loretowhere the ring of memory and its 580,000 names of soldiers who fell in Nord Pas-de-Calais between 1914 and 1918 will be inaugurated on November 11.
The main places of remembrance of the Great War
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Canadian Vimy Memorial: 226,000 visitors
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Arras Wellington Quarry: 56,900 visitors
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Etaples Cemetery: 24,800 visitors
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Fromelles cemetery: 24,300 visitors
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Neuville-Saint-Vaast cemetery: 24,000 visitors
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Bullecourt Museum 2,500 visitors
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Owen d’Ors House: 2,000 visitors
