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IN BRIEF
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At 36 years, Alexis Gilbert returns to Gironde to officially take over the Libournais Tourist Office. Trained in Bordeaux and Toulouse, seasoned by more than a decade at the helm of offices in Champagne, he intends to position Libourne as a destination in its own right, complementary to its neighboring Unesco sites, relying on digital innovation, networking, and a fine understanding of local challenges. Arriving this Thursday, October 2, following a successful 2025 season, he has a clear ambition: to make Libournais a conscious choice rather than a random stop.
An Asserted Return to Roots
Originally from Saint-Christoly-de-Blaye, in High Gironde, Alexis Gilbert returns to a territory he knows intimately. This return is not a sentimental detour: it fits into a coherent professional trajectory serving a familiar living space. His assumption of office, effective this Thursday, October 2, opens with a simple conviction: the uniqueness of Libourne, its urban vitality, and the density of its commerce constitute a solid foundation to write a demanding destination narrative.
His academic background – a dual master’s degree in project management focused on territorial development, tourism, and digital – has shaped both a strategic and operational approach. This combination, nourished by hands-on experience, illuminates his method: to closely observe uses, federate energies, and then accelerate through useful innovation.
A Journey Shaped by Champagne
For more than ten years, he directed several offices in Champagne, particularly around the Orient Forest Natural Park and Lake Der. This territory, less urbanized than Libourne but profoundly marked by its vineyards, has taught him to combine seasonality, great landscapes, and excellence in wine tourism. He honed a valuable know-how there: orchestrating complementary offers, from outdoor activities to culture, without diluting local identity.
This real-world school now informs his view of the Libournais: here, the strength of a central city and the proximity of Unesco sites create an ideal platform for structuring thematic itineraries, creating links between river, vineyard, craftsmanship, and heritage, and deploying coherent hospitality from the first click to post-stay.
A Vision for a Chosen Destination
At the heart of his roadmap lies one ambition: to make Libourne a chosen destination, not a fortuitous discovery on the way to prestigious neighbors. The positioning relies on a triptych: to intensify the link with surrounding Unesco sites, to reveal the unique identity of the city and its municipalities, and to multiply original experiences throughout the year.
This ambition is embodied in concrete formats. Nature experiences, for example, could draw inspiration from immersive workshops such as fishing workshops suitable for the banks of the Isle or Dordogne rivers. On the cultural side, “making-of” tours in the style of film secrets could highlight local artisans, studios, crafts, and expertise. At night, a program of starry ecotourism – twilight walks, sky observation, landscape readings – would create a new relationship with the territory.
Major cultural events would punctuate the year: a traveling exhibition blending heritage and contemporary creation; backstage visits inspired by “festival secrets” to open the behind-the-scenes of Libournais events. All these modules could be quickly activated, adaptable by season, enriching the experience without distorting the location.
Priority Work Axes
Several priorities stand out. First, the networking of stakeholders – accommodation providers, winemakers, restaurateurs, cultural sites – to assemble fluid “experience chains”: one-click booking, soft mobility, coordinated welcome, and reception services tailored to families, wine enthusiasts, or audiences sensitive to slow tourism. Next, data and digital: better qualify flows, smooth out peak attendance, personalize the relationship before, during, and after the stay.
Finally, there is the question of storytelling. At the level of Libournais, history is told in layers: rivers and confluences, markets and commerce, craftsmanship and vineyards, culture and industrial heritage. This shared narrative feeds into hospitality (signage, mediation, merchandising, editorial content) and strengthens the brand image of a creative, welcoming, and sustainable territory.
A Method: Co-construction and Networking
The approach of Alexis Gilbert is based on co-construction. It aims to unite municipalities, intercommunalities, socio-professionals, and cultural institutions to build readable itineraries, from city breaks to rural getaways. With Unesco neighbors, pragmatic cooperation – combined passes, event shuttles, shared calendars – should enhance complementarity rather than competition.
On the ground, this method translates into “quick projects”: enhanced pedestrian signage, unified welcome kits, training in customer experience, attendance observatory, and an editorial studio to produce maps, podcasts, micro-videos, and multilingual content. The goal: to make the Libourne experience simple, desirable, and memorable, from the train platform to the cellar, from the museum to the guinguette.
Heading Towards 2026, Following a Successful 2025 Season
The assumption of duty comes after a dynamic 2025 season. This favorable context allows pilot projects to begin as early as autumn: prototypes of “water and vine” itineraries, family nature workshops, night tours, off-season events to stretch the attendance curve. In the short term, the priority is to equip teams and partners; in the medium term, to consolidate a readable annual program; in the long term, to establish Libourne among the reference destinations in the South-West.
Between local anchoring and regional opening, the Libournais Tourist Office is entering a new cycle. With his experience in Champagne and his Girondine roots, Alexis Gilbert intends to combine operational demand with attention to the details that make a difference: the welcoming gesture, the fluidity of routes, the promise kept – that of a territory that is discovered, understood, and chosen.
