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Month: September 2026

Grimaldi Forum Monaco scores double Gold at British events industry awards

by: Cassandra Tanti
24/09/2026

The Grimaldi Forum Monaco has been named Best Overseas Conference Centre at the 2026 M&IT Awards, securing Gold for the second consecutive year.

The Monaco venue shared first place with PortAventura Convention Centre at the awards ceremony in London on Friday 18th September. The Convention Centre Dublin received Silver, while the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya took Bronze.

Other finalists included the Barcelona International Convention Centre, Palma Congress Center and RAI Amsterdam.

The result brings the Grimaldi Forum’s total number of M&IT Awards to 21 since 2003, comprising 10 Gold, nine Silver and two Bronze awards.

Monaco performs strongly in London

The Principality recorded a broader success at the ceremony, with Visit Monaco Convention Bureau winning Gold in the Best Overseas Convention Bureau category.

The Fairmont Monte-Carlo was also among the finalists for Best Overseas Hotel, giving Monaco representation across three of the awards’ major international categories.

Together, the results recognise the different parts of Monaco’s business-tourism offer, from destination promotion and accommodation to the hosting of large international congresses and events.

Award decided by British event organisers

Voting in the Best Overseas Conference Centre category is restricted to professional event organisers based in the United Kingdom, with the results independently audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Grimaldi Forum Managing Director Sylvie Biancheri said the voting process made the second consecutive victory particularly significant.

“Winning Gold for the second year running has a very special value because this distinction comes directly from British event organisers,” she said. “It rewards the confidence of our clients and the daily commitment of all our teams.”

The latest award follows a significant year for the Grimaldi Forum. In 2025, the venue marked its 25th anniversary and expanded its event capacity with the opening of additional spaces as part of the Mareterra development.

Its 21 M&IT Awards collected over more than two decades also reflect the Grimaldi Forum’s sustained presence in the British events market, a strategically important source of international congresses and business tourism for Monaco.

 

MYS: Electric Ipharra leads Sunreef’s push into a new era of sailing

by: Cassandra Tanti
24/09/2026

Sunreef Yachts unveiled the new 100 Eco Ipharra on the opening day of the Monaco Yacht Show, presenting a 100-foot electric sailing catamaran designed for extended family cruising, watersports and an unusual educational mission.

During a press conference attended by Monaco Life, Sunreef founder and president Francis Lapp joined the yacht’s owner to outline the thinking behind the project and reveal early details of a new sailing system being developed by the shipyard.

The Ipharra is equipped with electric propulsion and integrated solar technology, reflecting the owner’s demand for reduced fuel consumption and more environmentally responsible cruising. The 29.37-metre yacht has a beam of 12.9 metres and is listed by the Monaco Yacht Show at €14.5 million.

The owner is a longstanding Sunreef client who spent 15 years aboard the previous Ipharra. That experience helped shape the new yacht, particularly its larger living areas, improved access to the sea and facilities for diving and sailing dinghies.

“We really enjoyed the yacht, but there were things that could be improved, and we wanted to make full use of the progress Sunreef had made during those 15 years, particularly in terms of fuel consumption and environmental performance,” he said. “Because we use the boat with students, we also wanted a large outdoor area close to the sea that would be easy to use for diving and for the sailing dinghies.”

A superyacht with an educational role

The yacht will continue a programme established aboard the original Ipharra, hosting students from the owner’s family-run boarding school in Switzerland for periods at sea.

The students are introduced to sailing while continuing lessons in subjects including history and philosophy, effectively turning the yacht into a travelling classroom.

“They come away from this experience with unique memories of learning in a very unusual classroom,” the owner said. “For us, the boat is a real platform for giving those young people an opportunity to discover something new, and perhaps to find a passion.”

Demand shifts towards larger catamarans

Lapp said the Ipharra also reflects a wider change in the catamaran market. When Sunreef launched its first 74-foot model in the early 2000s, it was considered exceptionally large. Demand has since moved towards models of around 100 feet and beyond.

“The market has changed, along with the lifestyle of our clients,” he said. “They want to enjoy much more space at water level, as well as the stability on board and the comfort it provides for a family.”

Sunreef has expanded its production infrastructure in response to the growing demand for larger multihulls.

Five-minute sail deployment

The shipyard also used the press conference to preview a new sailing system intended to address a common problem: sailing-yacht owners often use their sails only for long passages because conventional deployment can be time-consuming.

“We noticed that many boats were not using their sails very often,” a Sunreef technical representative said. “In normal day-to-day use, they were often not deployed because the operation took too much time.”

Developed with a partner in Spain, the system is intended to make sails available for use in approximately five minutes. Sunreef said it could be deployed while the yacht is at anchor or potentially in the marina, while its 360-degree rotation is designed to reduce handling difficulties and risk.

“Our objective was to create something quick, easy and reliable, without sacrificing performance,” the representative said. “Safety comes first, followed by efficiency.”

Sunreef did not disclose the system’s full technical specifications in Monaco, saying further details would be released later.

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Photos source: Sunreef

Prince Albert II strengthens historic ties during tour of Aiglun and Puget-Théniers

by: Virginia D’Umas
24/09/2026

On Monday 21st September, Prince Albert II travelled into the rugged hinterland of the Alpes-Maritimes for an official visit to Aiglun and Puget-Théniers, two communities with profound historical connections to the Princely Family as part of the ‘Historic Sites of the Grimaldi of Monaco’ network.

The first part of the journey brought the Sovereign Prince to Aiglun—a village perched in the Estéron valley—where he inspected the striking 14th-century troglodyte fortress of the Château d’Aiglun, accompanied by Mayor Anthony Salomone. 

Photo Credit: Michaël Alesi / Palais princier

Preserving the cliffside heritage of Aiglun

Prince Albert II has actively championed the preservation, restoration, and promotion of this dramatic cliffside heritage site, which served as a medieval refuge. The restoration was notably supported by Stéphane Bern’s Mission du Patrimoine.

During the visit, the Prince and the mayor unveiled a dedicated plaque recognising Aiglun as a ‘Historic Site of the Grimaldi of Monaco’. Following the tour, he attended an official civic ceremony outside the village town hall, meeting with local officials, residents, and figures such as former football international Youri Djorkaeff, who has local ties.

Inaugurating new community spaces in Puget-Théniers

The Prince then headed to Puget-Théniers—guided by Mayor Pierre Corporandy—where a major highlight of the visit was the dedication of a local sports complex proudly bearing his name.

Beyond the inauguration ceremony, the Prince took time to walk through the town, greet the gathered crowds, and explore several key architectural and historical landmarks of the ancient city, which was once a focal point during conflicts between the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire.

Photo credit: Michaël Alesi / Palais princier

A shared history across the mountains

Blending heritage preservation with modern community engagement, the visit underscored the enduring cultural and historical bonds uniting the Principality of Monaco with these mountain territories, tracing back to the legacy of the Grimaldi branch of Beuil.

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Prince Albert II with the mayor of Aiglun, Anthony Salomone. Photo Credit: Michaël Alesi / Palais princier

Monaco’s economy cools from a record 2025, but jobs hit a new high

by: Cassandra Tanti
24/09/2026

Monaco’s economy eased back in the first half of 2026 from the exceptional highs of a year earlier, with business turnover and the property market both down, though the slowdown was offset by a record job market, according to the latest quarterly bulletin from the statistics institute IMSEE, published on 16th September. Private-sector employment neared 70,000 by the end of June, an all-time high, even as total turnover fell to €9.2 billion.

Business turnover across the Principality, excluding financial and insurance activities, fell 9.6% year on year to €9.2 billion in the first six months of 2026 — though IMSEE was quick to put the drop in context. Much of it, the institute said, is mechanical: 2025 was inflated by the completion of several large construction projects and by one-off operations that were not repeated this year. Strip those out and the underlying picture is healthier — eight of the 13 broad sectors IMSEE tracks grew.

Retail was among the strongest, up 11.1%, led by car sales, watches and jewellery, and clothing, while hospitality and catering passed €600 million for the first time at this point in the year, a rise of 13.9%. The heaviest falls were concentrated in a few areas: specialised, scientific and technical activities more than halved after two firms’ exceptional 2025 business dropped out of the figures, while construction fell almost 20% and the real-estate sector by a quarter.

A record job market

If turnover cooled, employment did the opposite. The private sector employed close to 70,000 people at the end of June, up 4.2% on the year — some 2,795 more jobs, and a record for a second quarter. Growth was spread across almost every sector, the exception being industry, where a fall reflected an internal transfer of staff rather than job losses. Hospitality and catering passed 11,000 employees for the first time, administrative and support services grew fastest at 9.4%, and the number of hours worked over the half-year rose 1.8%. The Principality counted 6,444 private employers.

Trade, tourism and banking

Foreign trade excluding France came to €1.8 billion, down 6.1%, but the trade deficit narrowed by 11.4% to below €700 million. One shift stood out: on the back of nearly €190 million in imports of electronic components, Taiwan leapt to become Monaco’s second-largest supplier after Italy, while exports of watches jumped 43.5%.

Tourism told a similar story of growth with a caveat: arrivals rose 4.2% to almost 170,000 and overnight stays 2.6%, but with more hotel rooms available, the occupancy rate slipped to 62.3%. More cruise ships called than a year earlier, though passenger numbers fell. In banking, assets under management climbed 11.5% over the year, while in property new-build sales all but dried up, with just four recorded, even as resales held steady at 238 transactions worth €1.2 billion.

IMSEE cautioned that the figures follow the introduction of a new activity classification, NAF 2025, in January, meaning the sector results cannot be compared with its earlier bulletins; the foreign-trade data is also provisional and subject to revision.

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Photo credit: Richard McCreery

 

Pioneers, princes, and masterpieces: Unveiling season 23 of ‘Tout l’art du cinéma’

by: Virginia D’Umas
24/09/2026

The Institut audiovisuel de Monaco has officially inaugurated the first part of the 23rd season of its signature initiative, ‘Tout l’art du cinéma’, spanning from September to December 2026.

Under the joint curation shaping the institute’s cultural oversight – with editorial notes and direction provided by the institute’s director Vincent Vatrican and the prominent film historian, critic, and associate programmer Jacques Kermabon – the autumn calendar offers a rigorous exploration of film heritage, archival restoration, and auteur retrospectives.

The new autumn highlight: ‘Les archives du lundi’

A major new addition this season is ‘Les archives du lundi’ (Monday Archives), introduced to intrigue audiences and encourage blind trust in the institute’s curatorial vision. Taking place every Monday at 3pm, the initiative features two alternating archival programmes each month. Emphasising the mystery and the institute’s commitment to discovery, head of collections Estelle Macé explains the core philosophy behind keeping the exact line-up under wraps: “Come and trust us.”

Tativille and the mechanics of modern satire

The programming opened on Tuesday 22nd September at the Grimaldi Forum with Jacques Tati’s 1964 masterwork, Playtime. As curatorial notes authored by Kermabon and Vatrican emphasise, the film represents a fundamental artistic shift: “The international success of Mon Oncle opened new horizons for the filmmaker, who wanted to push his satire of modern society further by tackling the gigantism of our cities, where humans are reduced to the state of ants.”

Constructing the sprawling, steel-and-glass studio set known as ‘Tativille’ in a Parisian suburb, Tati acted as an architectural visionary. Elaborating on his methods, Vatrican and Kermabon highlight his intent not to represent the world as it is, but rather to invent it from scratch, substituting traditional narrative progression for structural forms and sonic textures. The Tati retrospective extends later in the cycle with Jour de fête on 17th November at the Théâtre des Variétés.

The cabinet of curiosities at the Institut audiovisuel de Monaco. Photo credit: Virginia D’Umas

The cabinet of curiosities: Recovering the 1956 princely wedding

A centrepiece of the early-season schedule—unveiled during a mid-September press conference—highlights local media history through a dedicated exhibition inside the institute’s ‘Cabinet de curiosités’. Following the discovery of original reels and outtakes from Jean Masson’s 1956 documentary Le Mariage de Monaco, the institute undertook a meticulous photochemical and digital laboratory restoration. As Estelle Macé explained regarding the immense value of recovering these foundational records: “Reviving these forgotten images restores their full historical depth to foundational moments of our collective memory.” 

This extensive archival undertaking will culminate in a dedicated cine-conference on 16th October at the Grimaldi Forum, featuring a 4K screening and a sequence-by-sequence formal breakdown of the documentary.

Charle Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936). Photo credit: Institut audiovisuel de Monaco

Partnerships, auteur cinema, and heritage revivals

Institutional partnerships further diversify the autumn line-up. On 6th October, the Théâtre des Variétés will host Sophie Letourneur’s Voyages en Italie (2022) in collaboration with the Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco, portraying ordinary home life in an honest, unfiltered way. Later in the season, on 4th November, the Salle Garnier will serve as the venue for a cine-concert presentation of Charles Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936), featuring a live orchestral arrangement conducted by Frank Strobel in partnership with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo.

Rounding out the initial months of the twenty-third season are significant screenings of historical and contemporary works, including Giuseppe De Santis’s Pâques sanglantes (1950), Shôhei Imamura’s Pluie noire (1988), and Joachim Trier’s recent family drama Valeur sentimentale (2025).

Photo credit: Institut audiovisuel de Monaco

Magic lanterns, animation, and youth workshops

The season also extends its educational and generational reach through dedicated family programming and youth workshops. Designed for children aged four and older, a special family session titled ‘Que le spectacle commence!’ will take place on 23rd October at the Petite Salle de l’Institut. This presentation will explore pre-cinematic visual culture—long before screens and smartphones—focusing on magic lanterns and hand-painted glass slides brought to life by a lanternist-storyteller.

Complementing the public screening, a hands-on workshop titled ‘Invente ton spectacle de lanterne magique’ will be hosted for participants aged eight and older on 22nd and 23rd October. Led by historian and cinematic lanternist Anne Gourdet-Marès, the workshop introduces students to the technical secrets of the magic lantern, allowing them to paint their own transparent glass plates, invent original stories, and perform their own live-narrated projection. 

Ultimately, by passing these optical crafts to the next generation, the institute ensures that the foundational mechanics of moving images remain as alive as the stories they project.

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Jacques Tati’s 1964 masterwork, Playtime. Photo Credit: Institut audiovisuel de Monaco

Beyond the label: Inside M3 Monaco’s new standard for global marinas

by: Virginia D’Umas
24/09/2026

For years, marinas and yacht clubs have struggled with too many overlapping green labels and safety certificates. Yet industry leaders point out that existing guidelines usually miss broader daily issues like customer service, property care, and what makes a destination attractive.

To bridge this gap, M3 Monaco has introduced the S3 Smart & Sustainable Standard—an international framework engineered to transform routine operational assessments into active performance drivers. The standard made its official debut during the sixth Monaco Smart & Sustainable Marina Rendezvous held at the Yacht Club de Monaco on 20th and 21st September.

A holistic approach to marina management

With the global recreational boating sector encompassing over 30 million boats and generating an estimated $300 billion in economic impact, modern facilities face complex operational challenges. M3 Monaco designed the S3 standard to function as a practical management system rather than a superficial certification. 

“S3 was born from a simple observation: amid the proliferation of labels and certifications, none offered a truly holistic assessment,” explained Audrey Luciani, Executive Director of M3 Monaco and initiator of the standard. “Environmental performance and safety were assessed, while customer experience and the appeal of the yachting destination—dimensions that are just as critical to performance—were overlooked. S3 places them at the heart of management.”

Opening the inaugural awards ceremony at the Yacht Club de Monaco on Monday, 21st September, Armelle Roudaut-Lafon, Director of Marine Affairs within the Principality, emphasised that yachting is deeply embedded in the DNA of Monaco, requiring a vital link between the sea, ships, harbours, and the marine environment. She said: “Initiatives like S3 help foster international exchange among specialists to develop smart marinas everywhere.”

The framework relies on a combination of rigorous document reviews, strategic interviews, and on-site audits to ground its evaluations in concrete data. Rather than enforcing a rigid single model of excellence, the standard assesses an organisation’s ability to control operations, understand its challenges, and pursue continuous improvement. As José Marco Caselini, CEO of M3 Monaco, said: “True excellence depends neither on sheer size nor on the volume of financial investment.”

Eight core pillars and four maturity levels

The S3 standard evaluates participating organisations across eight distinct areas, covering environment and biodiversity, energy and climate, customer experience, safety and asset integrity, operational resilience, service quality, innovation, and the preservation and transmission of maritime values.

To encourage steady progress rather than competitive ranking, the evaluation places facilities into one of four progressive maturity levels: Horizon, Regatta, Flagship, and Sovereign.

Claudia Batthyany with the S3 award for the Yacht Club de Monaco. Photo credit: Mesi

The inaugural international cohort and award winners

The first group to undergo the S3 evaluation represents a deliberately diverse mix of operating models, geographies, and developmental stages, culminating in landmark recognitions at the Rendezvous.

Standing out as the pinnacle of the inaugural group, Amaala achieved the highest Sovereign level for its Red Sea coastal destination that integrates architecture, nature, operational excellence, marine biodiversity protection, and a fully decarbonised fleet.

The other pioneering organisations recognised with the S3 label included the Yacht Club de Monaco, the Jeddah Yacht Club & Marina, the Corinthia Yacht Club, the Port of Saint-Florent, and Ayla Marina.

Beyond individual certification, the S3 initiative aims to foster an international network of marinas, yacht clubs, and sailing schools dedicated to peer-to-peer exchange and collective maritime progress.

“We are deeply honoured by this award. It reflects the incredible dedication and passion of our teams, partners, and members working together. Thank you so much to M3 Monaco; we are deeply moved, and we promise to keep pushing the standard of excellence forward,” said Claudia Batthyany, project manager at the Yacht Club de Monaco. 

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Photo credit: Virginia D’Umas