Webzine Voyage

Office de Tourisme, France

Find a Tourist Office in France by region and department

Looking for tourist information about the French departments and regions on your next trip?
Here’s a closer look at tourist offices by region, with maps, listings and useful links to help you find your way around the diversity and richness of France’s regions.

Tourist office in France

Tourist office? In the plural!

France’s tourist offices play a crucial role in developing and promoting tourism at local, regional and national level. As entities dedicated to welcoming, informing and promoting local tourist attractions, they are essential points of contact for visitors.

The original history of tourist offices in France dates back to the end of the 19th century, when tourism began to develop significantly, following on from the Grand Tour*. The first steps towards organising and promoting tourism were taken at the instigation of local players keen to promote their region and make life easier for visitors.

After the first tourist information centre was set up in Annecy in 1895*, a border town, the Grenoble tourist information centre was created with the aim of promoting tourism in the town and the Dauphiné region. This was the start of a steady growth in the number of tourist offices across France.

The Offices de Tourisme de France are a national federation with around 2,400 Tourist Offices, 400 Tourist Information Centres, 78 Departmental Unions and 22 Regional Federations across the country.

In 2020, Offices de Tourisme de France, Tourisme & Territoires and Destination Régions, the three historic federations of institutional tourism bodies, merged into a single structure: ADN Tourisme.

Why set up a tourist office?

The main task of France’s tourist offices is to promote their region to tourists and visitors. This involves a number of key activities:

  • Reception and information
    Reception facilities provide tourists with practical and cultural information, ranging from maps and tourist guides to personalised recommendations on local attractions, events and activities.
  • Promoting tourism
    Using communication and marketing channels, the tourist offices and similar bodies promote their region’s tourist attractions to attract visitors, both nationally and internationally.
  • Coordination of local players
    Tourist offices work closely with local tourism service providers (hotels, restaurants, activities, etc.) to develop the region’s tourism offering.
  • Tourism development
    They participate in the strategic planning and sustainable development of tourism in their geographical area.

Tourist office and tourist office

Today, France has almost 3,000 tourist offices and tourist information centres, organised into a structured network at several levels:

  • Local tourism
    Each tourist office operates at the level of a municipality or group of municipalities, concentrating on promoting its specific geographical area.
  • Regional tourism
    The Comités Régionaux du Tourisme (CRT) coordinate promotional efforts across the French regions, coordinating regional development strategies.
  • National tourism
    Atout France, France’s tourism development agency, promotes the country as a tourist destination worldwide.

Skills shared across France

In accordance with the French administrative structure*, the distribution of powers and capacity for action in the field of tourism varies from one local authority to another.

  • At commune level
    Each municipality, and more often each inter-municipal cooperation body (EPCI), can set up a tourist office for its territory.
  • At département level
    The département structures the tourism development plan, organises the departmental tourism committee, and plans the departmental walking and motorised trails.
  • At regional level
    The region plans regional tourism development objectives, draws up the regional tourism and leisure plan, and coordinates initiatives to develop and promote the sector.
  • AtState level
    Through its dedicated ministry, the government is developing a national tourism policy, particularly to raise the country’s international profile.

Territorial brands

In addition to the tourist offices, and often in synergy with them, local brands have been created to promote several tourist areas around a common name and identity.

As this non-exhaustive map, regularly updated by Vincent Gollain, shows, there are numerous brands dotted around France, combining geographical names, tourist attractions and possibly territorial slogans.

Territorial brands in France
Map of territorial brands, Vincent Gollain 2023

Tourist offices in France

Direct access to tourist offices and tourist information centres (non-exhaustive list) depending on your preferred area and your next trip.

List, map and links to tourist offices and tourist development agencies in France, by department, region, metropolis and intercommunal area.

By region

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

  • Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Tourism
  • Auvergne Destination (Allier, Cantal, Haute-Loire, Puy-de-Dôme )

Burgundy-Franche-Comté

Brittany

Centre-Val-de-Loire

  • Centre Val de LoireRegional Tourism Committee
  • Terres du Val de Loire Tourist Office

Great East

  • Grand-EstRegional Tourist Agency
  • Alsace-Champagn e
  • Ardenn e
  • Lorrain e

Hauts-de-France

Île-de-France

Normandy

New Aquitaine

Occitania

Pays de la Loire

  • Economic Development Agency for the Pays de la Loire Region

Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur

  • Provence-Alpes-Côte d’ AzurRegional Tourism Committee

Corsica

Overseas territories and people from overseas France

Map of OdTs by region

Tourist offices by department

Arranged alphabetically for each département, with regional breakdowns:

Web link

Tourist office by city

Find tourist offices in 22 cities across France:

Link to Webzine Voyage

Travel+

  • Grand Tour and Tourist Office via Wikipedia
  • Official website of the OTF
  • Exploring France, France.fr( where to go )
  • Distribution of powers ( PDF file), Local authorities
  • Tourism, DGE and DGFIP
  • Association of elected representatives from tourist areas, ANETT