Occitanie
Occitanie's Toulouse produces Airbus aircraft while Mediterranean coast mass tourism and Languedoc wine quality improvement diversify the 2016-merged region.
Occitanie hosts Toulouse, France's aerospace capital where Airbus assembly lines produce aircraft that define European aviation industry. The 2016 merger combined Midi-Pyrénées (Toulouse-centered) with Languedoc-Roussillon (Mediterranean coast), creating a region where high-tech manufacturing coexists with mass beach tourism and struggling agricultural interior.
Airbus employs directly and indirectly tens of thousands in Toulouse and surrounding departments. The supply chain extends throughout the region—engine components, electronics, structures—creating industrial ecosystem that rivals Île-de-France for technical sophistication. Space sector (CNES, satellite manufacturing) adds defense and research employment. This aerospace concentration makes Occitanie vulnerable to aviation industry cycles, as the post-pandemic recovery demonstrated.
The Mediterranean coast from Montpellier to the Spanish border provides beach tourism at lower price points than the Côte d'Azur. This mass tourism creates seasonal employment while generating environmental pressures (development, water use, congestion) that climate change intensifies. Wine production (Languedoc appellations) historically served bulk markets; recent decades have seen quality improvement that enables higher pricing. Whether the region can balance Toulouse's high-tech growth, coastal tourism pressures, and interior rural decline tests governance across very different communities.