1935 :
Dimitri PHILIPPOFF and LIKAREFF open the Ours Blanc 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 a taste for outdoor life and the practice of physical education and sports.
June 5: 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).
This same year: creation of the Magical Villages, and creation of Air Sport Soleil (village on the Côte d’Azur).
1951 :
Opening of the Golfo di Baratti Village.
1952 :
Corfu Village opens in tent form.
Club Méditerranée is setting up a temporary tent village in Finland for the Helsinki Summer Olympics.
1953 :
Gilbert TRIGANO becomes treasurer of the Club Méditerranée association.
1954 :
Establishment of the first huts in Corfu (Ipsos)
Opening of Djerba (later to become La Fidèle) in Tunisia and Palinuro in Italy
Creation of the Polynesia Club which will establish a canvas village in Yugoslavia, and another in Corsica at Santa Guilia
That year, it was also the first transits organized by plane to the villages in Bréguet 2 decks.
1955 :
Opening of the village of Tahiti (240,000 old francs payable in 18 months without interest. The trip lasted a month by boat).
Opening of Caprera.
Merger of Club Méditerranée / Villages Magiques.4
1956 :
March 25: Club Méditerranée has 10,000 GMs.
That same year, the first snow village opens in Leysin (Les Chamois) in Switzerland.
1957 :
The Club Méditerranée association becomes Club Méditerranée SA with variable capital.
Appearance of the bar necklace which becomes the currency of Club Méditerranée.
Acquisition of the bankrupt Club Polynésie
Opening of the first two French villages at Monetier les Bains (Serre Chevalier) for the winter of 56/57 and Santa Giulia in Corsica (summer 1957) formerly Club Polynésie
Creation of the CET (European Tourism Club) competitor of Club Méditerranée.
1961 :
Arziv opens in Israel.
1962 :
Opening of the villages of Sveti Marco in Yugoslavia and Cadaques in Spain.
1963 :
Gilbert TRIGANO becomes CEO of Club Méditerranée
Premier Village in Morocco's Al Hoceima district.
Edmond de ROTHSCHILD joins as majority shareholder.
1965 :
Club Med crosses the Iron Curtain by opening a village in Sochi, USSR. That same year, it becomes a tenant of the Manial Palace in Cairo, Egypt.
December 20: Long before Club Med One, the Ivan Franko, a Soviet ocean liner, sails in the Mediterranean under the Club Med flag.
1966 :
Agadir opens, the first village open year-round.
The Louis Lumière and Vietnam cruise ships are chartered.
The ship enters 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 :
Redemption of the CET (Malabata, Kusadasi, Cargèse are examples of villages included in the basket).
1971 :
First village in Black Africa in Assinie (Ivory Coast).
Opening of Pompadour.
Golf is becoming an activity offered in some villages.
1972 :
March 18: Official inauguration of Djerba la Douce, opened a year earlier.
1975 :
The Don Miguel de Marbella and the Almadies de 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 the holiday club atmosphere, will be released on November 22.
Windsurfing activities will be launched.
1979 :
Château Royal in New Caledonia taken over from UTA
Creation of the Club Aquarius competing with the Club Méditerranée
The Club Méditerranée has 700,000 GMs.
1980 :
Opening of Copper Mountain (Colorado, United States).
1984 :
Creation of Club Med Inc.
Entry of Club Med Inc on the New York Wall Street stock exchange.
1985 :
Opening of the City Club of Vienna in Austria.
1987 :
First village in the land of the rising sun in Sahoro.
1989 :
Launch of the Club Med One sailing ship
Opening of the village of Opio in Provence.
1990 :
March 3: Death of Gérard BLITZ.
1991 :
Acquisition of Club Aquarius (Nabeul, Alpe d'Huez Les Bergers, etc.).
Club Med launches into the airline industry with the acquisition of Minerve and the recovery of Air Liberté from Club Aquarius.
1992 :
Launch of the Club Med Two sailing ship.
Crash of a plane in Senegal carrying GMs bound for Cap Skirring.
1993 :
Serge TRIGANO becomes CEO.
1996 :
Opening of a Club Med village in Forges les Eaux (Normandy), the village closest to Paris.
1997 :
The end of the TRIGANO era is drawing to a close, a new chapter is turning.
Philippe Bourguignon becomes Chairman of the Executive Board of Club Méditerranée.
1998 :
The Club Med One cruise ship is sold to Windstar Cruise, which renames it WindSurf.
The Club moves to Varadero, Cuba.
1999 :
Acquisition of TO Jet Tours.
2000 :
February 4: Death of Gilbert TRIGANO, 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 of eliminating loss sources and upgrading
The few remaining villages of huts close, the 2 tridents disappear.
2006 :
Closure of Leysin.
2010 :
Opening of the first 5-Trident village + villas on Mauritius Island at the 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 of history. (The club still retains ownership of the walls for the time being.)
Gulin, the second Chinese village, opens.
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 at Pragelato Vialattea.
2014 :
August 31: Pompadour closes.
2015 :
After more than a year and a half of negotiations, the Fosun takeover bid was accepted on January 2, 2015, following the withdrawal of Andréa Bonomi (the offer closed on February 9, 2015).
Club Med is celebrating its 65th anniversary with the slogan Happy 65.
2016 :
May 22: Big G 'Odyssée anniversary party at the Paris Country Club (Hippodrome de St Cloud).
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 former legendary village becomes Europe's first 5-Trident "Exclusive Collection" resort. Another renovation is the Don Miguel de Marbella.
2020:
The Club faces 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 appoints Stéphane MAQUAIRE as head of the Club. Med Holding
HGE leaves after 23 years at the head of the Club (revocation of fact)
A final 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 of success but also of dramas?
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 also GOs and GMs who without you would have come to an abrupt end.
Throughout history, the Club has been able to face conflicts, wars (Israel, Yugoslavia, Iraq), and even September 11. It has been able to hold its own against Covid, which brought the economy to a standstill.
Today, while some people no longer recognize the Club Med of their childhood, or have moved away from it like your servant, the Club Med adventure continues and no one knows where or how it will end.
Videos
Club Med les Go
Archive Gérard Decosterd – Collierbar
Club Med yesterday and today. 1950-1960 - 60 years of happiness
Edited by Kamel KERBOUA
Hello and thank you for this lovely site which tells a wonderful story!
The Club also bought the Maeva group in the 1970s, further increasing the number of villages.
A) The very greatest of the Club and its inventor is Gérard BLITZ. B) The first all-inclusive. C) No snobbery or class. 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 the whole thing. I am thinking of a village that no longer exists and which is simply Cadaqués (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 redone by Pierre et Vacances, and my last Hotel, the Charleston in Leysin (Switzerland), and that for 14 years.
WELL DONE ,
great site, I was GO in 1978 with Czopp as Village Chief, and as GO Alain Blanc, Machpro, Choucrun, Haddock.
with pleasure Chita GO judo among other things I stopped as a club med artist 37 years later in 2015.
Well done, wonderful work. Thank you.
Thank you for posting these landmarks, former GO for 5 years from 77 to 81 (sports then tourism) I liked, when there was a "gap", to tell the history of the Club to the GMs.
This is something to perfect my knowledge.
Happy travels to all!
Good morning,
Thank you for this site which contains valuable information from the bygone era of the first clubs.
I am looking in my memories of the year 1968 for the name of the club where I went to the mountains, it was in France and most likely in the Alps. Does anyone know the list of
clubs in the catalog for the 1968 winter season? From this period I have no photos or
documents. What comes back to me most is the possibility of skating at nightfall on a pond
or a small lake.
What 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 the name and exact location?