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As summer approaches, the mountain seeks a parade against mass tourism

2021-07-09T00:05:04.693Z


The French, in search of freedom and the great outdoors, will be numerous to turn to the mountains for sunny days. The curators of the already fragile natural parks are worried about this summer influx.


After a summer of 2020 at its peak for nature tourism, the managers of mountain natural parks are working before the peak of the season to better regulate attendance in their most fragile areas.

The 2021 summer season promises to be busy, with reservations up 20% compared to 2020, already higher than 2019, according to figures from the G2A firm for the National Association of Mayors of Mountain Resorts (ANMSM).

Read also: Our advice for cycling around the Luberon

A welcome success for a sector seeking to reduce its dependence on winter skiing. "

If we welcome this reunion between the French and their nature, we owe it to ourselves today to call on them to be extremely vigilant

", warned at the end of June all the national, regional parks, reserves and major sites in France. . “

Our natural spaces are fragile,

” they wrote together, worried about the harmful effects of mass tourism in these protected areas.

In 2020, the Hautes-Alpes have never welcomed so many summer tourists.

The Ecrins park has seen a jump in attendance, as has the region around Gavarnie, in the Hautes-Pyrénées, where there were + 30% tourists in 2020. “

The main change,

” notes Pierrick Navizet, from the park des Ecrins, “

these are the new audiences who come from nearby urban areas and who are not all familiar with the mountains.

"

End of cars, place for shuttles

A clear development at Lac du Lauvitel, a magnificent natural site that is easy to access in Isère, where up to 1,000 people hiked on weekends in August. The park rangers noted an "

explosion of incivility

" there, with a doubling of the number of violations observed compared to 2019: abandonment of waste, cold fires, theft of equipment, fractured chalets ... After the summer last, "

we were a little drained,

" recognizes Pierre-Henri Peyret, the head of the sector.

But "

it is up to us to adapt,

" he assures

us

, presenting a management plan for this new attendance with a priority: "

better communicating

" good practices, such as wearing good shoes, not approaching. herd protection dogs, do not make fires ... To carry the message, two channels: Instagram, where many new hikers find their next idea of ​​outing, and on the spot, where more guards will be present to raise

awareness of regulations, as

well as activities, such as chamois sightings through glasses.

Read also: Four hikes to discover the Chartreuse massif, between Isère and Savoie

In the Vercors, a massif close to the metropolises of Lyon or Grenoble, the protected site of Molière underwent “

very strong pressure

” from parked cars

in the summer of 2020

: up to 294 for 60 parking spaces. “

When you've spent half an hour parking, arguing with another guy for a place, you're no longer in unspoiled nature; we are in mass consumption

”, regrets Quentin Chabanne, project manager at the Vercors regional natural park.

To "

reduce the influence of the car

", the park has launched consultations, studies and reflections with a first solution that will be tested a few days this summer: the prohibition of access from the top of the site to cars, replaced by shuttles . One way to establish a gauge, as the island of Porquerolles announced on Tuesday on the Côte d'Azur? "

Without speaking of quotas, there will necessarily be a limitation, by the capacity of the shuttles or the parking

", slips Quentin Chabanne.

"

There are peaks in attendance in certain well-identified sectors

" but "

no overcrowding

", is keen to qualify Yvan Chaix, director of the Hautes-Alpes development agency. "

I believe that we are going to enter a long cycle of quite a strong interest in the mountains in the summer,

" he continues. The tension between tourism and the environment is "

only in its infancy

", concludes Quentin Chabanne.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-07-09

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