• The town hall of Marseille wishes to reduce the promotion of the city in the face of the risk of tourist overcrowding this summer.

  • Conversely, the metropolitan tourist office is planning more than one million euros in advertising operations to promote the city.

What tourism strategy for Marseille this summer?

Fearing "a very high attendance [...] or even a situation of overcrowding" tourism in Marseille this summer, the municipality called on Wednesday to reduce the promotion of the city, showing its "deep disagreement" with the tourist office of the metropolis.

"We must increase the resources devoted to welcoming tourists and reduce those devoted to promoting the city," insisted the deputy mayor for sustainable tourism, Laurent Lhardit, during a videoconference, regretting that the metropolitan tourist office (OMT) has planned to dedicate "more than one million euros to advertising operations or for trade fairs" in order to sell the Marseille destination.

For the municipality, led since June by the Printemps Marseillais, priority should be placed on the reception and information of tourists.

"It is not a question of limiting access to Marseille but of diversifying the reception areas", explained Laurent Lhardit, estimating at "a hundred" the number of agents that should be trained and recruited.

Alternative tourist routes

Responding to these criticisms, the president of the UNWTO, Marc Thepot, specified that "the strategy of the Office was only aimed at promoting the Marseille destination on the" wings "of the season, and in particular in the month of September".

And faced with this problem of overcrowding in July and August, the UNWTO "has developed alternative tourist routes in the city, to avoid the endless sites of Notre-Dame de la Garde and Les Goudes", the last district in the city. south of Marseille, at the entrance to the creeks, insisted Marc Thepot.

The latter also deplored that "the six elected representatives of the Printemps Marseillais are pursuing an empty chair policy" on the Board of the Office.

Calanques marketing

Expecting "an attendance equivalent or even greater" to that of the summer of 2020, when Marseille had largely benefited from Franco-French tourism due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the municipality hopes to divert visitors from the creeks or the “Good Mother”, “these hot spots that should be warmed up”, explained Laurent Lhardit.

During May, the city will present a project, called "L'Eté Marseille", which will detail measures intended to manage this seasonal influx.

If since January 1 the OMT has been managed by the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis and no longer the city, “it is indeed the city that remains the organizing authority for the tourist season in Marseille”, insisted the elected official. .

Faced with the overcrowding of tourists, the Calanques National Park, which includes several of Marseille's calanques, has already started a “demarketing” treatment this year, in particular to encourage visitors to go and see other nearby natural spaces.

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  • Summer holidays

  • Calanques

  • Marseilles

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