The restaurant on Cannes\u2019 La Croisette boulevard didn\u2019t require reservations, just first-come, first-served. Except for one table.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI came here at the beginning of July to escape the heat<\/a> and enjoy the summer,\u201d said Aya from Saudi Arabia. \u201cAfter two weeks, a wave of fellow Gulf tourists arrived.<\/p>\n \u201cWe come every year, but this year feels different. It\u2019s like the whole Gulf moved here,\u201d she added, holding up her phone case showing the flags of Saudi Arabia and France side by side.<\/p>\n The Gulf presence isn\u2019t just felt in restaurants. It stretches to the beaches. <\/p>\n 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<\/a>. Six different groups stood waist-deep in the water, chatting in various Arabic dialects, with only one French couple nearby.<\/p>\n \u201cAre we in Cannes or in Bahrain?\u201d one man joked to his friends, laughing as he realised he was surrounded by people from his region.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Mediterranean escape<\/b><\/p>\n Gulf visitors are known for their high spending power, filling five-star hotels and crowding luxury boutiques along the famed Croisette beach.<\/p>\n In 2024, travellers from GCC countries made approximately 24.4 million outbound trips, spending about $75.4\u202fbillion abroad, according to Gulf figures and VisitBritain\u2019s market data.<\/p>\n