• At the dawn of the tourist season, the actors of tourism in Paca seek to fight against overcrowding.

  • For this, a promotion of lesser-known sites, through social networks or even Waze, will be carried out.

What summer awaits the Provençaux?

After a summer of 2020 marked by problems of tourist overcrowding, national parks and elected officials of Paca seek at all costs to limit the environmental impact of such tourist pressure ... without depriving themselves of this financial windfall which constitutes about 15% of the GDP.

Also, for this new summer season, local tourism players have worked on new solutions with one and the same goal: to promote other lesser-known sites to relieve the most famous sites.

Overview.

Instagram is your friend

In 2019, a few blue lagoon photos of the Huveaune sources posted on Facebook had caused an influx of tourists in the small Var village of Nans-les-Pins, to the point of worrying the mayor at the time.

But in the Ecrins National Park, straddling Isère and the Hautes-Alpes, we want to believe that social networks can help fight against overcrowding.

“We have prepared Instagram posts for this summer to publicize sites that are not necessarily so and thus offer alternatives in the middle of the summer season,” explains Pierrick Navizet, head of the reception and communication department of the Ecrins National Park.

And to specify: "We have also identified nearly 200 hikes to make it possible to propose alternative routes, and the instructions were given to the hosts and hostesses of the information points of the park to direct the visitors towards these points, according to their level, when we know peaks.

“An approach that the Paca region has also initiated for a few weeks.

"We have built around a hundred ideas for new tours, grouped together on the region's site in two to three weeks," promises Loïc Chovelon, director general of the regional tourism committee in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.

An extended partnership with Waze

At the same time, the Paca region has decided to extend its partnership with the famous Waze application, after an initial experiment deemed conclusive on four sites in the Verdon and the Luberon. In fact, between June 5 and July 31, 2020, users of the application were informed in the space dedicated to advertising of the occasional high traffic of the site sought as a partner. In most cases, after a financial contribution made by the various local tourism officials, Waze offers other parking solutions near the desired site, facing a saturated parking lot.

"325,000 drivers have been affected by the system set up around the four experimental scenarios, and more than 28,000 navigations to the proposed alternative solutions have been" provoked "following exposure to the messages", rejoices the region in a press release.

A system extended to the Préalpes d'Azur regional natural park on June 1, then during the summer to nine of the 14 other natural parks in the region.

... But no demarketing

This is one of the strategies developed by the Calanques National Park which, to fight against a growing affluence, has decided to ban postcard images from its communication. An approach that is not that of the region, which takes care not to "make tourists feel guilty", in the words of Loïc Chovelon. "It's Marseille," launches the LR president of the region Paca Renaud Muselier. They took a different logic. I am not going to go against the mayor of Marseille. I am not here to harm him. I protect the environment. He's trying to take an option. We will see the usefulness of this option ”.

As a reminder, fearing "a very high attendance (...) or even a situation of overcrowding" tourism in Marseille this summer, the deputy mayor of Marseille in charge of tourism had called in April to reduce the promotion of the city, posting his " deep disagreement ”with the Metropolitan Tourist Office.

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