Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur
PACA's €186B GDP ranks third nationally, Côte d'Azur resorts commanding global luxury premiums while Marseille port and industry anchor Mediterranean access.
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA) generates €186 billion GDP as France's third-largest regional economy, its Mediterranean coast providing tourism infrastructure that commands premium pricing globally. Nice and Marseille anchor urban economies; the Côte d'Azur resorts (Cannes, Monaco's influence zone, Saint-Tropez) attract wealth that concentrates along a narrow coastal strip.
Marseille—France's second city, largest Mediterranean port—provides industrial and logistical functions that tourism-focused Nice lacks. The port handles petroleum, containers, and cruise passengers; petrochemical facilities around Fos-sur-Mer process imported crude. Marseille's multicultural character—North African immigration creating France's largest Muslim population—generates both cultural dynamism and social tensions that periodic violence expresses.
Tourism concentrates summer employment while creating year-round service demands in the largest cities. The Cannes Film Festival, Monaco Grand Prix, and other events provide global visibility; real estate prices along the coast exceed Parisian equivalents. The interior (Haute-Provence, mountain areas) struggles with depopulation that coastal magnetism accelerates. Whether PACA can distribute prosperity beyond the coast—or whether interior decline continues while coastal luxury intensifies—poses regional development challenges.