I'm just completing a three day wine tourism course being held at Chateau Cantenac ( www.chateau-cantenac.com ) in Saint Emilion. I hold these twice a year usually, looking at best practise in wine tourism around the world, and how Bordeaux properties either measure up, or what they can do to improve their offering. It is always really interesting, and I always learn plenty of new things for Wine Travel Guides ( www.winetravelguides.com ) - which I am just updating at the moment, with the new guides due online by the end of the year.
The owner of Chateau Cantenac, Nicole Roskam-Brunot, is also vice president of the Saint Emilion tourist office, and told me that St Emilion receives 1.1 million visitors per year (in contrast, Bordeaux city currently receives around 550,000 per year) and is the third most popular visitor destination in the country, after the Eiffel Tower and Mont St Michel.
