The full Monte can be yours -- for a cool €22m
Princess Caroline of Hanover with rock legend Chuck Berry in Monte Carlo at the weekend
As you arrive in the Gucci store, other customers are ushered out. A helicopter is waiting to whisk you, on a mere whim, up and over the traffic jams and on an excursion down the coast and, when you sweep into the Monte Carlo casino, the croupiers have been ordered instantly to spring to attention.
Like the sound of this? Then you might want to consider the latest holiday package being laid on in Monaco. There is just one small condition: you need assets, excluding your main residence, of €22m to be eligible.
With the tiny principality fearful of finding itself on a blacklist of tax havens to be made public at the G20 summit in London this week, officials are seeking to bolster the inflow of millionaires through what may be the most exclusive tourist initiative ever.
Under the plan drawn up by the government of Prince Albert -- son of Rainier III and Grace Kelly, and Monaco's ruler since 2005 -- the elite holidaymakers will be drawn from the estimated 94,970 people in the world who have the requisite sum in their bank accounts.
However, the select clientele will need more than just money to qualify for Concept URI -- ultra-rich individuals -- as the package is being called.
They also need to be capable of defending Monaco's reputation in corridors of power around the world.
The URIs will receive a personal invitation from the principality's diplomatic staff and a card that "will be the key to Monaco", according to Michel Bouquier, head of tourism.
When they flash the card, private shopping will be laid on for them in boutiques such as Prada, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent and Cartier, which will close to ordinary customers.
VIP treatment is promised at the casino or at the Louis XV restaurant run by Alain Ducasse, the renowned French chef, where URIs can enjoy the rare privilege of a visit to the 600,000-bottle wine cellar.
Ducasse's acclaimed dishes include sea bass with artichoke stock, crunchy ravioli stuffed with cuttlefish and marjoram, milk ice cream and fleur de sel, and croquant caramel with curdled sheep's milk. Meals can cost as much as €1,000 a head.
Yacht
For a day trip, Monaco's new elite will have a helicopter on call at all times to ferry them to St Tropez or up into the Alps or to a yacht in the harbour, or even take them on a visit to a private home to study the local way of life.
"It's always interesting to see how people live -- and we have magnificent flats here," said Mr Bouquier. "We will arrange for visits to some of them." An excursion to the Royal Palace will also be thrown in -- although not to Prince Albert's private apartments.
Mr Bouquier said the idea was to target emerging economies such as China and Russia. "But it's going to be very select. We will start with a few dozen and at most we will invite a few hundred."
The main benefit of the scheme, he said, lies in the creation of a "network of important opinion-formers with a certain amount of influence around the world".
For Monaco, such backing could prove precious indeed as it strives to remain a magnet for the rich and famous, such as Sir Philip Green and Simon Reuben, the British billionaires; or Jensen Button, the Formula One driver, all of whom have homes there.
Prince Albert is frantically seeking to get Monaco removed from a blacklist of states that are likely to be accused formally at the G20 meeting of fuelling fiscal evasion.
Last week, his officials said that they were willing to co-operate with the EU in the fight against tax fraud; the sort of initiative likely to be welcomed in London, but not necessarily by the principality's inhabitants.
A few hundred friendly ultra-rich individuals dotted around the world could help to stave off any similarly awkward reforms planned for the future.(©The Times, London)
- Adam Sage in Paris
