Lourdes (AFP)

Fall in demand, short-time working, turnover in free fall: the only candle factory in Lourdes, a major Catholic pilgrimage site in the world, is launching into online commerce to find new life in times of health crisis global.

"This year has been very dark, the next will be gray. What is important for us is to hold out until this crisis passes. We are trying to find solutions that can go through other markets and be innovative ", indicates the director of the ciergerie, Patrice Le Morvan.

Founded in 1928, the company, the main supplier to the Sanctuary, which absorbs nearly 80% of its production, embarked on e-commerce in the face of the collapse in the number of pilgrims caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

So many products that until now flowed in the shops near the Grotto where, according to Catholic tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.

The company took advantage of the confinement to accelerate its digitization process, initiated at the start of the year.

- "Huge impact" -

"For the first time in its history, it is not the pilgrim who will come to Lourdes but Lourdes who comes to the pilgrim", summarizes for AFP Catherine Cervantès, the commercial manager of the company.

“Until now, Lourdes was accessible to everyone. Now, many people can no longer come, especially the sick”.

In the workshop, where Bernadette de Lourdes sits in statue, only five employees, against the usual eleven, are busy around the merry-go-round, a machine used to soak cotton wicks in paraffin heated to 55 degrees.

The candles will then be cut manually and then mechanically sawn.

"We have been on short-time work since April 1 and until the beginning of next year, without knowing where we are really going. The impact of the crisis is enormous," said Cervantes.

The company usually produces between 300 and 500 tonnes of candles, but this year the hundred tonnes mark will probably not be exceeded.

A drop of some 70% in turnover, of 1.2 million euros in 2019, is expected for 2020.

Very dependent on spiritual tourism, which has raised it to the rank of second hotel town in France, after Paris, the entire Marian city, and its 14,000 inhabitants, is hit by the crisis.

"This season, we have had a 90% drop in activity across the entire ecosystem: hotels, souvenir shops, transporters, catering ... All the activities linked to welcoming pilgrims", assures François-Xavier Brunet, director of the Hautes-Pyrénées Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

- "Very worrying situation" -

"The situation is very worrying. Especially since when we anticipate what the 2021 season could be, we are on a fairly low perspective which could be less 70% compared to a normal year", worries - he.

The recent cancellation of the FRAT pilgrimage, created in 1908 and which was to bring together thousands of Catholic high school students in Ile-de-France from February 14 to 19, 2021, has cast a new shadow over the coming season.

"What worries us is to tell ourselves that we may have another year like this. And two years in a row, it's going to be very difficult, for the whole economy of Lourdes. We are all linked to each other ", insists Catherine Cervantes, of the Ciergerie.

"The news we have is not encouraging," confirms Giuseppe, manager of + The Apparition +, a souvenir shop located on one of the main streets.

"Now we can just be optimistic and think it's going to be okay. That's all we can do."

© 2020 AFP