Hunspach, Alsace, half-timbered houses, 650 inhabitants ... and Parisian cars looking to park. No rest assured, Dany Boon has not planned a new film on the "real France of the villages" and human warmth as soon as we leave the capital, the cinematographic year has taken enough dear like that with the coronavirus. Hunspach has just experienced a massive tourist influx since it was crowned with the honorific title of "favorite village of the French" in the television program of Stephane Bern of the same name. This "spotlight" is not without pitfalls but is welcome in an Alsace where tourism remains timid.
“I didn't know Hunspach, this is an opportunity to take advantage of it. Since the confinement, we told ourselves that we were going to visit Alsace and play tourists with us, "explains Anne, retired from Colmar, who nevertheless arises there in the game of Alsatian tourist villages.
Prepare for the first wave… tourist
On the wall of the town hall, the golden plaque displaying the television distinction is already screwed. On the square, a shed is quickly repainted to be transformed into a tourist office. Drinks in trucks are ready to compensate for the lack of a bar (snif) in the village, which has only a butcher, a bakery, now open continuously, and a restaurant that is full.
Hunspach's July 1 victory in Stéphane Bern's show "brought in lots of people immediately, almost the next day," said Hunspach mayor Bertrand Wahl, both proud and surprised. It was therefore necessary to organize as quickly as possible to make the village touristically viable: borrow signs from the neighboring town to signal a parking lot at the entrance to the village, set up guided tours, find catering possibilities…
Award-winning Alsace, Alsace saved?
This "spotlight" on Hunspach is a "point of attachment and a means of making discover all" of this less known part of Alsace, hopes Stéphanie Kochert, departmental councilor of Bas-Rhin and president of the tourist office, which emphasizes "soft roaming".
In nine editions of the show, Hunspach is the third award-winning Alsatian village, after Eguisheim in 2013 and Kaysersberg in 2017. The East therefore often wins the Messi or Ronaldo way at the Ballon d'Or, but this victory may be more important than the previous ones for Alsace, far from its usual tourist crowds (23 million visitors last year).
"The start of the season is timid," recognizes Marc Levy, managing director of Alsace Destination Tourisme. The Hunspach distinction is therefore timely. This "tool to revive tourist consumption" is "particularly welcome, it is a tip of the hat to a destination that is under pressure," he continues.
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