Postcard from Cannes: How the French Riviera turns Gulf in July

The National

5 days ago

The restaurant on Cannes' La Croisette boulevard didn't require reservations, just first-come, first-served. Except for one table.
A group of five men arrived and took their seats at that lone reserved spot, chatting easily with the waiter. It was a former senior Gulf politician and his family.
The mood in the restaurant reflected how Cannes, and a handful of cities along the French Riviera, feel in July: the coastal summer escape speaks fluent Gulf.
Across town, another restaurant, famous for its open-air ambience, tucked into the almost-Italian alleyways of old Cannes, was packed on a Saturday night. Nearly every table was taken by Gulf guests.
'I came here at the beginning of July to escape the heat and enjoy the summer,' said Aya from Saudi Arabia. 'After two weeks, a wave of fellow Gulf tourists arrived.
'We come every year, but this year feels different. It's like the whole Gulf moved here,' she added, holding up her phone case showing the flags of Saudi Arabia and France side by side.
The Gulf presence isn't just felt in restaurants. It stretches to the beaches.
At one family-friendly beach club just before sunset, the calm sea was filled with swimmers from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and other neighbouring states. Six different groups stood waist-deep in the water, chatting in various Arabic dialects, with only one French couple nearby.
'Are we in Cannes or in Bahrain?' one man joked to his friends, laughing as he realised he was surrounded by people from his region.
Each summer, tens of thousands of Gulf tourists escape the searing heat back home for cooler destinations like France, the UK, and Spain. The French Riviera remains one of their favourites.
Mediterranean escape
Gulf visitors are known for their high spending power, filling five-star hotels and crowding luxury boutiques along the famed Croisette beach.
In 2024, travellers from GCC countries made approximately 24.4 million outbound trips, spending about $75.4 billion abroad, according to Gulf figures and VisitBritain's market data.
With more airlines launching from the Gulf and competition intensifying to win over travellers, the GCC outbound tourism market is projected to grow to $81 billion in 2025 and could reach between $139 billion –$198 billion by the mid-2030s, according to travel experts.
France alone welcomes more than 100 million international visitors annually, generating tens of billions in tourism revenue. GCC nationals form a growing slice of that, though exact numbers for July visits are not publicly available.
In Antibes, 20 minutes from Cannes, two men sat on one of the Riviera's most exclusive beaches, gazing at the multicoloured blue sea framed by green hills and dotted with boats.
'I love this view,' one of them said in a Saudi dialect. 'But it's a little too calm being here. I don't want to just relax, let's go somewhere else.'
The nearby old town of Antibes bustles with tourists in summer. Its narrow streets are packed, and its cafes buzz around the clock with people from all over the world.
But Gulf visitors stand out. In nearly every cafe, Arabic can be heard, and some waiters have even learnt a few Arabic phrases to use with regulars.
'The South of France is Mediterranean, and it feels closer to our hearts,' Aya said.
'I wouldn't want to live here, but coming every summer for a few weeks makes life more exciting. I randomly bump into neighbours and people I haven't seen in years. I feel at home.'