LE FIGARO - What is your assessment of your 2021 season?
Arnaud BAMVENS
- In two years, we have lost nearly fifty years of almost uninterrupted growth.
While the Gouffre de Padirac had broken its attendance record in 2019 with 503,000 visitors, we welcomed 345,000 this year between our opening on May 22 (instead of March 28) and our closure on November 14.
In 2020, at the height of the crisis, only 280,000 people visited our site ... A rate equivalent to that of 1970!
We benefited from the influx of French tourists in the Lot and were also able to count on the return of foreigners, mainly from the Benelux and Germany.
But that was not enough to save our tourist season.
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The obligation of the health pass, both for visitors and employees, has particularly penalized our tourist season
Arnaud Bamvens, operations manager of the Gouffre de Padirac
How has the health situation affected your business?
The health pass particularly penalized us. Like museums and cinemas, we observed low attendance in the weeks following its launch on June 9. The French were not necessarily prepared and vaccination coverage was still low. This government constraint also affected the activity of our seasonal workers. During the application of the health pass for employees, on August 30, a quarter of them were unable to report to their post, which forced us to close one of our stores and reduce further our reception capacity for ten days. We hope that this health pass system will not be renewed in 2022.
The gauge, set at 50% of reception capacity for a large part of the season, was also detrimental to us.
Finally, the weather disrupted our activities.
Heavy rains made our site inaccessible on several occasions for several days, especially on July 14.
If there is one positive point to be remembered, it is the disappearance of the queues at the entrance to our site: almost 100% of our tickets are now sold online.
Although the reservation is not obligatory, our public adopted the reflex of reserving their time slot.
This has enabled us to better anticipate flows and to ensure better compliance with attendance gauges.
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What are your projects for the year 2022?
Next year, we would like to re-establish our scientific animation programs, covering the explanation of the underground world, the geology or the history of the region, which have been dormant for two years.
Our site modernization and extension project is progressing step by step, but it could be delayed or revised downwards.
The health situation now requires us to be more careful in our development projects.
For next season, we still have little visibility, but that does not affect our determination.
An open house will be organized on January 13 to meet seasonal candidates.
