“Carry the torch through Montréal”
Canadians are a mischievous lot. With 65,000 French residents, it seemed only right that Tourisme Montréal should ask for the Olympic torch to pass through the city The request is symbolic, but the call to visit their city, which was posted on YouTube at the end of April (2 million views), is very real.
The Canadian agency LG2 was behind the campaign that features a 60-second video of a Frenchman from Montréal addressing the French sports committee. “We’ve noticed that Montréal is not on the Olympic torch relay route. Given that Montréal has more French residents than 30 of the towns the torch is passing through... let’s just say that we’re a bit surprised we’ve been left out. You can take a look at our proposal by going to laflammeàmontreal.com; a direct link to the Tourist Office website, which has details of all the city’s attractions. Nice one!
Huge tourist potential
“No fewer than 500,000 French people visit Montreal every year, so the link between our two countries is very real”, explained Aurélie Du Bois, spokesperson for Tourisme Montréal, on TV5 Monde. Her colleague Sylvie Charette, head of marketing, told sportbuzzbusiness.fr that the torch relay is an established tradition that unites all the inhabitants of the host nation.“We saw it as a great opportunity to continue our dialogue with France, which is a major tourist market for Montreal.”
The 1976 Montréal Olympics
Looking back, Montreal hosted the summer Olympics in 1976. Nearly half a century on, the venues are still in use, hosting festivals, concerts, sporting events and more. The city boasts an abundance of parks and gardens, a vibrant cultural life and some very French neighbourhoods, not least the famous Plateau Mont-Royal, dubbed the 21st district of Paris. In short, Montréal won't be welcoming the torch, but it's sure to win the hearts of the French!
