14 years
Hi Fabio,
I'm not really answering the questions you've asked; But I have to agree, Toulouse is in desperate need of Hostel style accommodation. My experience whilst backpacking in 2005 with a couple of friends: arriving in the city at dusk via train, really great ambience, lovely architecture...but...no people anywhere?! I don't know the reason for that but everything just seemed to be closed, we walked for hours, trying every budget place in our guide book, all closed, even tourist info was closed. We'd have loved to stay for a few days but in the end because of lack of accommodation we got an early morning train northward.
I know there is a HI hostel in Toulouse, but it's not well advertised and can't be booked on-line. As you well know Toulouse is centre of Europe's Aerospace industry, I've read a lot of posts regarding this on LP's Thorn Tree forum and elsewhere, there are a lot of travellers who visit Toulouse purely just to visit the A380 Airbus factory and corresponding engineering related tours, they have a lot of trouble finding a budget place to stay for a few days, and clear information on the tours. I know all this because my bro, an engineering graduate wanted to visit and ran into the same problems and in the end it was enough to put him off from visiting.
I think if you open a decent hostel in Toulouse and market it to the above kind of traveller whilst providing concise tourist info about the aeronautical heritage of the city you will fill beds, not to mention the backpackers as there is no other decent alternative.
Just thought it would be worth throwing my dealings with Toulouse out there! :D
Regards,
Baz
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