Dordogne-Périgord Tourisme is the Comité Départemental du Tourisme de la Dordogne. Discover a rich and varied department! From prehistory with Lascaux, villages and castles, to historic sites and unspoilt nature, everything can be discovered on foot, by bike, canoe or car.
The Dordogne is the epitome of what France has to offer, one of the nuggets of French tourism with a rich cultural, natural, historical and gastronomic offering and a concentration of heritage sites that is exceptional on the scale of a single territory….
Let’s meet Perrine Buffière.
1 – Could you briefly describe yourself and the mission of Dordogne Périgord Tourisme?
I’m Perrine Buffière, Community Manager with the Comité Départemental du Tourisme de la Dordogne. I’m originally from the Dordogne and I love to travel around my department, so I’m always up to date with the best spots and addresses. My curiosity also helps me find the inspiration I need for my various publications.
The CDT is a monitoring tool, a sounding board and a facilitator, providing personalized support to private and public operators on behalf of the Conseil Départemental de la Dordogne. Its aim is to increase consumption and the quality of services and tourist experiences offered to our visitors. To this end, it has decided to create a cultural event as a call product and communication lever to launch the season and position the Dordogne Périgord brand at the heart of “trendy and authentic” destinations that can’t be ignored…right from the start of the new season. Our 4 core businesses are animation, qualification, marketing and promotion.
2 – How does your annual Châteaux en fête event promote your destination?
Our Châteaux en fête event offers a unique opportunity for families and friends to enjoy exclusive, festive, entertaining, cultural, educational, sporting and gastronomic experiences. In addition to a unique program of events at the must-see châteaux usually open to visitors, many historic private residences open their doors for the occasion.
The owners of castles, manor houses, manor houses… open their homes and offer exceptional activities, events and festivities around their monument to share their history.
The emphasis is therefore on a destination with a lively, animated and dynamic heritage, an ideal destination for entertainment of all ages.
3 – What was the feedback for this 2022 edition?
This event brings together more than 70 castle owners, many of them private, with a shared ambition: to make accessible a heritage that is sometimes little-known, and to bring the region to life in an extraordinary way.
With nearly 300 varied events in the 2 départements of Dordogne and Lot-et-Garonne, and an estimated 50,000 visitors, feedback has been positive overall.
¾ of guests are satisfied with the attendance, which remains essentially local and regional. Many of them appreciate the contact and exchanges with visitors, who are delighted to discover beautiful homes and take advantage of events, more than 50% of which are free.
4 – Which activities/visits attract the most visitors to the Dordogne?
It has to be said that the choice is vast, whatever the visitor’s desires. From prehistory to the underground world, caves, chasms, ornate shelters, castles, bastides, the most beautiful villages, towns of art and history, theme parks, museums, natural sites, local produce…they’re spoilt for choice. There is a strong need to disconnect, to get back to nature, to enjoy peace and quiet, and to use soft mobility such as hiking or cycling. Visitors are also looking for authentic, sincere encounters, and now want to take the time to discover the Dordogne and Périgord, and appreciate the short circuits, producers’ stores and village markets.
The Best Of includes châteaux (such as Les Milandes or Biron), remarkable parks and gardens (Eyrignac and its Jardins à la Française, the water gardens at Carsac-Aillac with their lotus and water lily collections)…The largest chasm in Périgord (Proumeyssac), a park that takes you back to the heart of the 1900s (Le Village du Bournat) and, of course, Lascaux, the international center of parietal art, for a high-tech immersion in prehistory, are among the most visited sites every year.
5 – Will demand increase for the upcoming summer season?
The answer is “yes”!
The outlook for this summer is excellent.
The upturn in tourism is undeniable.
“Les français privilégient la campagne pour les vacances” – Source PAP.
According to Airdna*, the Dordogne is the rural département that attracts the highest number of holidaymakers, ahead of Vaucluse, Ardèche, Drôme and Lot, all of which are experiencing strong growth.
Bookings for July and August are up for 45% of tourism professionals surveyed compared to 2021.
French customers are still very much in evidence, and foreigners are beginning to return, particularly the Dutch and English, but also Americans.
6 – Why did you choose Travel-Insight to help you manage your social networks?
Social networks are an essential part of our communication strategy, and we wanted to give them more attention, backed up by real expertise. That’s why we chose Travel-Insight for its experience in tourism and its many qualitative references. The agency provides us with invaluable technical advice and helps us find new angles that reveal all the facets of our territory. The combination of our skills enables the various communities to discover a lively territory, a veritable paradise and exceptional playground for lovers of active, cultural and natural leisure activities.
7 – What are the destination’s and the CDT’s future projects?
The deployment of infrastructures, circuits and a sustainable tourism offer, with the creation of “slow tourism” themed stays promoting bike routes and greenways, including the Flow vélo from Thiviers to Ile d’Aix.
The development of fishing tourism and infrastructures dedicated to recreational fishing.
The creation of roadbooks to simplify the discovery of the destination by proposing turnkey tours of 3 to 4 days, featuring the destination’s must-sees for those in a hurry…with suggestions for sites, accommodation or restaurants.
Continuing to create experiences that immerse visitors in the stories of Dordogne Périgord, through photo and video reports and the creation of editorial content, with the continued production of Podcasts to immerse future visitors in the personality of our territory.
We also rely on welcoming content creators to reenchant the destination by making it more human and visible through our partners’ communities.
8 – What message would you like to convey to French tourism professionals and travellers?
The CDT de la Dordogne provides personalized support for tourism professionals, offering advice, expertise, diagnosis, classification, labeling and promotion throughout the year. We’re with them every step of the way. Our team is always ready to listen.
As far as French travelers are concerned, we’d like to reaffirm that our destination is a “year-round destination”, to be discovered in all four seasons, not only in summer, but also in spring and autumn, and in winter during the truffle and foie gras seasons, award-winning markets… Etc. The Dordogne is a true land of recreation. Everyone who comes to the Périgord will enjoy themselves and leave with unforgettable memories. Our DNA is based not only on our history and prehistory, but also on the human touch and the sincerity of the encounters we make here, as well as the welcome we receive from our inhabitants and the managers of the places to discover. We offer real adventures and experiences, such as travelling to the heart of the underground world, canoeing down the most beautiful rivers of the Dordogne, cycling on our road bikes, visiting a prehistoric cave in the footsteps of our ancestors, hiking in the land of fairies and trolls in the Auvezère gorges, taking on the châteaux of the Périgord, going in search of Périgord truffles and much more!
9 – The final word?
A little paradise for those in search of the Pays de Cocagne!
It’s so good to be back! We look forward to welcoming you to Dordogne-Périgord. We’re always ready to advise you, whatever your tastes. A taste of the Périgord is a true feast for all the senses, with its generous gastronomy (strawberries, foie gras, Bergerac wines, truffles…), its soothing nature (hiking, meditation, yoga) or active (canoeing, golf, fishing), its authentic and lively sites (medieval castles, villages, gardens, caves). Are you coming with us?
*Airdna is a company that provides a wealth of data from scraping (a technique for extracting content from websites) of data from platforms such as AirBNB, Booking, VRBO (Abritel HomeAway group), etc.
