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IN BRIEF
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As summer ends, the tourist season looks dynamic in Avignon. The director of the Avignon tourist office, Cécile Wiertlowski, presents an optimistic picture: overall attendance remains stable compared to last year, with September emerging as a highlight, and visitors – both French and foreign – still drawn to the Palace of the Popes, the Bridge of Avignon, and the museums. In response to summer heat, the team adapts the guided tours and explores later schedules, confirming a shift towards experiences designed for comfort and sustainability in Vaucluse.
As the high season ends, Avignon stays the course. The 2025 attendance indicators are in line with 2024, with September being particularly popular. This loyalty among visitors is due to both the wealth of heritage and a more flexible hospitality strategy, adapted to the city’s rhythms and contemporary expectations.
In the historic heart, flows towards the must-see attractions – Palace of the Popes, Bridge of Avignon, museum collections – remain strong. Discovery routes are diversifying, the heritage narrative is renewing, and visitors are adopting staggered visit times that are more comfortable and contemplative.
Why September is emerging as the new peak of attendance
The softness of light, milder temperatures, and a less crowded city: September combines attractiveness with quality experience. An increasing number of foreign tourists and domestic travelers are shifting their stays outside the heat peaks, extending the season and redefining traditional summer markers in Vaucluse.
This evolution offers a dual benefit: a better distribution of flows in the city and the ability to explore Avignon at a more leisurely pace, favorable for interacting with craftsmen, enjoying café terraces, and traversing on foot or by bike.
Flagship monuments and new visiting practices
The foundation of attractiveness remains strong. The Palace of the Popes fascinates with its scale and perspectives, the Bridge of Avignon with its iconic silhouette, while the museums offer sensitive and scholarly approaches to the territory. The Avignon tourist office supports this movement by encouraging guided tours at adjusted hours and promoting shaded routes, fresh spaces, and water points.
Experiences in the late afternoon are gaining traction: soft light on the facades, a more serene atmosphere, and the heritage narrative that is heard differently. These “counter-current” formats respond to a growing demand for authenticity and thermal comfort.
A promising tourist season: the optimistic perspectives of the director of the Avignon tourist office on climate adaptation
Climate change is reshaping the ways of traveling. Avignon aligns with this reality through gradual developments and flexible offerings that enhance the quality of stay, manage flows, and preserve heritage.
Adapting the offerings to cooler hours and gentle mobility
By prioritizing morning and late time slots for certain guided tours, the office reduces exposure to heat, smooths discoveries, and increases points of interest during “low” hours. The routes suggest more walking, biking, and public transport options to relieve pressure on the busiest thoroughfares and encourage a more relaxed approach to the city.
This structural adaptation is accompanied by enhanced mediation: route advice according to the weather, encouraging early bookings, and highlighting lesser-known neighborhoods and green spaces for welcome respites.
An international and French audience is present
The allure of Avignon continues to attract a mosaic of visitors. The stability in volume coincides with an evolution in behaviors: shorter but denser stays for some, extended getaways during the “Indian summer” for others. The result: a prolongation of the season that strengthens the activity of hoteliers, restaurateurs, and tour guides.
This diversity of profiles nurtures the cultural scene, stimulates thematic visits, and diffuses economic benefits more widely in the city center and its surroundings.
A promising tourist season: the optimistic perspectives of the director of the Avignon tourist office in the regional and national context
The signals observed in Avignon resonate with other destinations. Analyses conducted on the Loire in the summer of 2025 illuminate, for example, comparable dynamics of flow distribution and the search for authenticity: the Loire trends show how the season stretches and densifies outside of peaks.
Along the coast, regions are refining their seasonal management strategies and environmental preservation. The choices made in Brittany illustrate this integrated approach: a strategy for the Breton coast that articulates attractiveness, sustainability, and quality of reception, a useful compass for heritage cities.
The role of stakeholders and ecosystems
Beyond the destinations, professional ecosystems shape the recovery. Trade shows and business meetings serve as places of orientation and strengthening of partnerships; their conclusion often sets the tone for the coming months, as highlighted by this summary: the insights from a tourism fair.
In this environment, value creation also passes through digital means and communities. Content created by travelers and influential authors, better monitored and of higher quality, influences stay choices. Discussions surrounding influencer revenues in tourism thus enter destination strategies while imposing requirements for transparency and ethics.
An open eye on international affairs
Global movements provide a valuable reflection. The performance of non-European destinations highlights the reconfiguration of markets and travel desires. In this regard, the signals sent by Morocco on the international stage, described here: the dynamics of global tourism as seen from Morocco, help understand the circulation of clientele and the competition between seasons.
This international lens reinforces the Avignon approach: to consolidate the existing, open new visiting narratives, and rely on broadened calendars to better host varied audiences.
A promising tourist season: the optimistic perspectives of the director of the Avignon tourist office, between heritage and narratives
The strength of Avignon also lies in its stories. The success of visits arises from these intersections between erudition and anecdotes, between stone and language, between memory and sensory experience. The role of mediation – that of guides, applications, and exhibitions – is to connect these threads.
Curiosities that fuel the desire to visit
Toponymy and art maintain the mystery. Thus, the preposition “in” in front of Avignon, a regional linguistic heritage, surprises and charms visitors with its antique usage. Another source of surprise: despite its title, The Young Ladies of Avignon by Picasso does not refer to the papal city but to a street in Barcelona; a persistent confusion that fuels conversation and, often, the curiosity for exploration.
Outside the ramparts, the territory is also adjusting. In Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, regulating access to the gorge invites stakeholders to rethink mediation, signage, and alternative routes, with a shared goal: to maintain the attraction while protecting sensitive sites and smoothing the visit.
Later, cooler, and more sensory experiences
The orientation towards staggered hours – particularly at the Palace of the Popes – illustrates Avignon’s ability to reconcile visitor comfort with preservation of places. As night falls, architectural details are revealed, the city’s noise softens, and the narrative becomes more intimate. These formats extend the destination’s appeal beyond summer, consolidating the promising tourist season envisioned by the director and her team.
