1935 :
Dimitri PHILIPPOFF and LIKAREFF open the White Bear in Calvi.
1948 :
Creation of the Olympic Games Club.
1949 :
The Olympic Games Club becomes the Olympic Club.
1950 :
February 11: Declaration to the Paris Police Prefecture of the Club Méditerranée association (non-profit association 1901) whose aim is to develop the taste for outdoor life and the practice of physical education and sports.
June 5th: Opening of the first village in the Balearic Islands. 2 weeks all inclusive at the Village of Alcudia for 16,800 old French francs or 2,650 Belgian francs.
Invention of the terms GM and GO (during the season).
That same year: creation of the Magic Villages, and creation of Air Sport Soleil (village on the French Riviera).
1951 :
Opening of the Golfo di Baratti Village.
1952 :
The Corfu village opens in a tent version.
Club Med sets up a temporary tent village in Finland for the Helsinki Summer Olympics.
1953 :
Gilbert TRIGANO becomes treasurer of the Club Méditerranée association.
1954 :
The first tents were set up in Corfu (Ipsos).
Djerba (later renamed La Fidèle) was opened in Tunisia, and Palinuro in Italy.
Club Polynesia was created, which set up a tent village in Yugoslavia and another in Corsica at Santa Giulia.
That same year also saw the first organized air transits to the villages in Breguet 2-deck aircraft.
1955 :
Opening of the Tahiti village (240,000 old francs payable over 18 months without interest; the trip lasted one month by boat).
Opening of Caprera.
Merger of Club Med and Villages Magiques.
1956 :
March 25: Club Med has 10,000 GMs.
That same year, the first snow village opened in Leysin (Les Chamois) in Switzerland.
1957 :
The Club Méditerranée association becomes Club Méditerranée SA with variable capital.
The bar necklace appears and becomes the currency of Club Méditerranée.
Acquisition of the bankrupt Club Polynesia.
Opening of the first two French villages in Monetier les Bains (Serre Chevalier) for the winter of 56/57 and Santa Giulia in Corsica (summer 1957) ex club Polynesia.
Creation of the CET (European Tourism Club) competitor of Club Méditerranée.
1961 :
Opening of Arziv in Israel.
1962 :
Opening of the villages of Sveti Marco in Yugoslavia and Cadaques in Spain.
1963 :
Gilbert Trigano becomes CEO of Club Med's
first village in Morocco, located in Al Hoceima.
Edmond de Rothschild joins as the majority shareholder.
1965 :
Club Med crossed the Iron Curtain by opening a resort in Sochi, USSR. That same year, it became the tenant of the Manial Palace in Cairo, Egypt.
December 20: Long before the Club Med One, the Ivan Franko, a Soviet ocean liner, sailed the Mediterranean under the Club Med flag.
1966 :
Agadir opens, the first village open all year round.
The ocean liners Louis Lumière and Vietnam are chartered.
The company is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.
1967 :
End of cruises.
Absorption of the associations Voir & Connaitre and Connaissances du Monde.
1968 :
While in Paris, people find the beach under the cobblestones, GMs find the beach in the Antilles at Fort Royal (Guadeloupe),
and the snow at Villars sur Ollon in Switzerland.
1969:
Opening of the first winter village in the United States in Bear Valley (California).
1970 :
Buyout of the CET (Malabata, Kusadasi, Cargèse are examples of villages included in the basket).
1971 :
First village in Black Africa at Assinie (Ivory Coast).
Opening of Pompadour.
Golf is becoming an activity offered in some villages.
1972 :
March 18: Official inauguration of Djerba la Douce, which opened a year earlier.
1975 :
The Don Miguel from Marbella and the Almadies from Dakar arrive in the Trident.
1976 :
Launch of the advertising campaign based on the verbs "Dream, Love, Contemplate…".
1978 :
The film "Les Bronzés," a parody of holiday club atmosphere, will be released on November 22nd.
Windsurfing activities will also be launched.
1979 :
Royal Castle in New Caledonia taken over from UTA
Creation of Club Aquarius competitor of Club Méditerranée
Club Méditerranée has 700,000 GMs.
1980 :
Opening of Copper Mountain (Colorado, USA).
1984 :
Club Med Inc. was founded.
Club Med Inc. was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (Wall Street).
1985 :
Opening of the City Club in Vienna, Austria.
1987 :
First village in the land of the rising sun in Sahoro.
1989 :
Launch of the Club Med One sailing cruise ship.
Opening of the Opio village in Provence.
1990 :
March 3: Death of Gérard BLITZ.
1991 :
Acquisition of Club Aquarius (Nabeul, Alpe d'Huez Les Bergers…).
Club Med is entering the airline industry with the acquisition of Minerve and the takeover of Air Liberté from Club Aquarius.
1992 :
Launch of the Club Med Two sailing cruise ship.
Plane crash in Senegal carrying GMs to Cap Skirring.
1993 :
Serge TRIGANO becomes CEO.
1996 :
Opening of a Club Med village in Forges les Eaux (Normandy), the closest village to Paris.
1997 :
The TRIGANO era comes to an end, a new chapter begins.
Philippe Bourguignon becomes chairman of the board of Club Méditerranée.
1998 :
The Club Med One cruise ship was sold to Windstar Cruise, which renamed it WindSurf.
The Club established itself in Varadero, Cuba.
1999 :
Acquisition of the tour operator Jet Tours.
2000 :
February 4th: Death of Gilbert Trigano in the year Club Med celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Opening of Club Med World and acquisition of Gymnase Club, which becomes Club Med Gym 2001.
Testing of a new concept that will not last: Oyyo.
2002 :
Henri Giscard d'Estaing replaces Philippe Bourguignon, who resigned, as chairman of the board.
Club Med returns to Serre Chevalier in the village of Bez (Villeneuve).
2003 :
Opening of Palmyre Atlantique on the Atlantic coast near Royan.
2004 :
The Accor group becomes the majority shareholder with 28% of the capital.
2005 :
Intensification of the policy to eliminate sources of losses and upgrading.
The few remaining villages of huts close, the 2 tridents disappear.
2006 :
Leysin closure.
2010 :
Opening of the first 5-Trident resort + villas on Mauritius at La Plantation d'Albion.
Opening of Yullin Snow Village in China (Heilongjiang Province).
Closure of Sestriere.
2012 :
Djerba la Fidèle closes after more than 58 years. (The club still owns the building for the time being).
Gulin opens, a second Chinese village.
2013 :
Closure of Otranto in Italy.
Closure of Hammamet in Tunisia.
May 27: AXA PE-Fosun launches a takeover bid for Club Med.
Club Med returns to the Italian Alps in Pragelato Vialattea.
2014 :
August 31: Pompadour closes.
2015 :
After more than a year and a half of negotiations, Fosun's takeover bid was accepted on January 2, 2015, following the withdrawal of Andréa Bonomi (the offer closed on February 9, 2015).
Club Med celebrated its 65th anniversary with the slogan "Happy 65".
2016 :
May 22: Grand anniversary party for G 'Odyssée at the Paris Country Club (St Cloud Hippodrome).
2018:
Cefalu Reopens: The legendary village of Cefalu, closed in 2005, has reopened after a complete transformation. Luxury bungalows have replaced the old huts. The once-mythical village has become Europe's first 5-Trident "Exclusive Collection" resort. Another renovation is underway at the Don Miguel in Marbella.
2020:
The Club confronted with COVID
2025 :
The A STILS association is organizing a sensational event in the Opio resort, bringing together nearly 850 former GOs to celebrate the Club's 75th anniversary.
Following disagreements on several points with Henri Giscard d'Estaing, Fosun International appointed Stéphane Maquaire as head of the Club. Med Holding
HGE stepped down after 23 years as head of the Club (removal for de facto reasons).
One last word:
75 years after the creation of the Club Méditerranée association, who would have thought at the time
of such a long history?
of so many twists and turns, successes but also tragedies?
of the transformation of a tent into a 5-trident hotel room?
Let us pay tribute to all those who built this fabulous story and to those who led it, Dimitri PHILIPPOFF, Paul MORIHIEN, the entire BLITZ family, Gilbert & Serge TRIGANO, all the village chiefs and all of you GOs and GMs who without you would have been cut short.
Throughout its history, the Club has been able to cope with conflicts and wars (Israel, Yugoslavia, Iraq), including 9/11. It has also been able to stand firm in the face of Covid, which brought the economy to its knees.
Today some no longer recognize the Club Med of their childhood, or have drifted away from it like yours truly, the Club Med adventure continues and no one knows where and how it will end.
Videos
Club Med les Go
Archive Gérard Decosterd – Collierbar
Club Med then and now. 1950-1960 - 60 years of happiness.
Edited by Kamel Kerboua
Hello and thank you for this lovely site which tells a very beautiful story!
The Club also acquired the Maeva group in the 70s, further increasing the number of villages.
A) The Club's founder and its inventor is Gérard Blitz. B) The first all-inclusive resort. C) No snobbery or classism. D) The first vacation on credit. E) No religion or politics.
Former GO, and for years, all the hotels, all the villages were great, great, only regrets for the disappearance of this beautiful brand, not for all of them, I am thinking of one village which no longer exists and which is simply Cadaquès (Costa Brava) completely destroyed, and which was one of my first villages, I am also thinking of my first village which was Les Restanques in the Gulf of Saint-Tropez, taken over and renovated by Pierre et Vacances, and my last Hotel Le Charleston in Leysin (Switzerland), and this for 14 years.
WELL DONE ,
great site, I was a GO in 1978 with Czopp as Village Chief, and alain blanc, machpro, choucroun, haddock as GOs.
With pleasure Chita GO judo among other things I stopped as a Club Med artist 37 years later, i.e. in 2015.
Well done, magnificent work. Thank you.
Thank you for posting these references. As a former GO (Gentil Organisateur) for 5 years, from 1977 to 1981 (first in sports, then tourism), I enjoyed, when there was a lull, telling the GMs (Gentils Membres) about the Club's history.
This will help me expand my knowledge.
Safe travels to all!
Good morning,
Thank you for this website, which contains valuable information from the bygone era of the first clubs.
I'm searching my memories from 1968 for the name of the club I went to in the mountains with; it was in France, most likely in the Alps. Does anyone happen to know the list of
clubs in the 1968 winter season catalog? I have no photos or
documents from that time. What I remember most is the opportunity to skate at night on a pond
or small lake.
So many memories!…
I spent three weeks in the summer of 1969 in a CET village located south of Venice (about an hour's drive, if I remember correctly) and near Ravenna… Does anyone know its name and exact location?