Strengths and weaknesses of airport, rail, and maritime hubs in France

In the current French social context, the attractiveness of our country remains a key issue in the thought process for CCEs concerned about taking part in improving the attractiveness of our country for foreign investors.

We wanted to receive their appreciation of the quality of hospitality offered by these points of entry and obtain significant points of comparison with competitive foreign hubs. The goal of this work is to bring a global vision with a view to improvement and providing the means to optimise service performance and strengthen attractiveness in what is now a highly competitive global arena.

The profile of those taking part in this survey is particularly representative since the panel of CCEs that responded is essentially composed of very frequent travellers. As a result, their wide-ranging perspective on the quality of service performance at airport and rail hubs helped us to set a relevant benchmark.

FACILITATION

With regard to arrival facilities, despite several recent improvements nearly half of CCEs considered that passing through police checkpoints remained a major black spot. These comments related primarily to the first and last flights of the day. The second negative aspect underlined by the survey’s results concerns connections to the city centre, primarily the link from CDG airport to the centre of Paris. Two aspects were brought to light; the poor quality of the taxi network and the absence of clean, safe and efficient public transport. When it comes to taxis, criticism focused on the quality of hospitality, lack of knowledge of foreign languages and the off-handedness of official drivers. It also addressed the presence of unofficial taxis, creating a feeling of genuine insecurity upon arrival and potential overcharging, mainly for foreigners.

COMFORT AND ATMOSPHERE

Overall, the study underlined the satisfaction of CCEs with regard to the general atmosphere, comfort and cleanliness of public spaces and the quality of shopping areas.

QUALITY OF HOSPITALITY

CCEs noted only an average quality of hospitality for both friendliness of personnel and their ability to speak foreign languages, with another black spot being the consideration given to foreign cultures. Generally speaking, CCEs felt that the quality of hospitality reserved for foreign travellers travelling for business through a French airport hub or train station was rather unsatisfactory.

AND IN OTHER COUNTRIES?

The main criteria of differentiation noted by CCEs were the general atmosphere at the airport, the speed of connections, the friendliness of personnel, serious and reliable security checkpoints, and finally, the cost of a ticket. CCEs considered that the benchmark airports for these qualities were Geneva, Schiphol, Atlanta, Doha, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.

Find all the results of the survey in our publications.