• Traveling to Bourg-Saint-Maurice this Thursday, Jean Castex defended his mountain plan.

  • The Prime Minister reaffirmed the need for resorts to diversify their activities and no longer rely solely on skiing.

Jean Castex presented Thursday in Bourg-Saint-Maurice, from the heart of the ski resorts of Savoie, his plan to diversify mountain tourism, a project globally welcomed by the players in the sector.

The objective of this investment plan of 650 million euros unveiled Wednesday evening "is not to give up skiing" but to "diversify the offer and conquer new customers", explained the Prime Minister.

He recognized the "suffering" of the mountain economy, ultra-dependent on downhill skiing prevented this winter due to Covid-19, a crisis which "seriously affected (the) investment capacities" of the areas skiable.

The interest of mountain biking

"Precisely because I know the people of the mountains well, I know that these difficulties, far from bringing them down, come to stimulate them", he assured in his speech, calling for accelerating the transition to get out of an economy. all-ski threatened by global warming.

In Les Arcs, where he went in the morning, he praised the adventure trails in the trees, the facilities for recreational cycling and other axes of development of a summer tourism which must take the ski relay.

"The economic model must evolve," insisted the Prime Minister, who underlined the interest of mountain biking and asked that part of the State's cycling plan help to develop this activity in the mountains.

"We hope that the economic model will pick up again this summer"

Jean Castex also visited the funicular that connects Bourg-Saint-Maurice station to Les Arcs station, a perfect example for the government of an installation that makes it possible to avoid a large number of car journeys - and thus avoid emissions greenhouse gases - and that he intends to help with these new announcements.

"Today, we have broken some of the fears of mountain people," greeted Jean-Luc Boch, the mayor of La Plagne and president of the national association of mayors of mountain resorts.

"We hope that the economic model will pick up again this summer."

This plan is "a first step for the transition of mountain territories", welcomes Fredi Meignan, vice-president of the environmental association Mountain Wilderness.

“It opens the doors to a new dynamic”.

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