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The promotion for July and August of Corsica, it's over!", says Angèle Bastiani. "We will no longer promote sites that are already too busy, but rather promote less frequented sites." At the microphone of France 3 Corsica ViaStella this Friday, May 12, the president of the Tourism Agency of Corsica (ATC), announces the renewal of a measure of "demarketing" already taken last summer, a few months after an unprecedented vote of the local authority on tourism in the island of Beauty.
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On October 28, 2021, the Corsican Assembly asked the "Protected Areas of the Sea, Islands and Coast" department in charge of managing the Strait of Bonifacio, a roadmap to set up "attendance quotas" of the Lavezzi Islands, to which the Climate and Resilience Law of August 2021 paved the way.
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A framework now established
The archipelago is a natural and geostrategic jewel, located in the middle of the Strait of Bonifacio, in the international strait that separates the island of Beauty from the Italian Sardinia, distant 13 kilometers at most. Since 1982, it has been a nature reserve. Nearly 300,000 people converge there each year, and 3000,15 can be found at the same time on Lavezzo Island alone (observed during a peak on August 69), as large as a farm (<> hectares). For tourists the dream turns into a nightmare and the very future of the site is at stake.
It was mistakenly believed that the decision of the Corsican Assembly would be applied from the summer season 2022, at the same time as the experimental gauge launched in the creeks of Marseille, which also renew it this summer. But "The Strait of Bonifacio is a nature reserve not a national park. And in 2022, the action plan did not provide for a legally established quota, "explains to the Figaro Jean-Michel Culioli, head of the service "Protected areas of the sea, islands and coast". The framework is now established.
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No more than 2000 people simultaneously on Lavezzo Island
From the end of June, no more than 2000,2023 people will be able to be present simultaneously "on the terrestrial part of the island Lavezzo, holders of an authorization or a reservation," says an official document of the Office of the Environment of Corsica. And the measure intensifies and extends beyond the summer of 200. "The annual quotas are set at a maximum of 000,2026 visitors per year until 150," then and "000,<> maximum people landing on the land part," half as many as today.
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To achieve this goal, boat counting cameras were attached to the rocks. Then will come the "implementation of a QR code for 2023", announces Jean-Michel Culioli. "The action plan allows areas of tranquility of nature: 3 kilometers of trails against 27 km previously and 900 m2 of beaches by closing the north of the island to the public and prohibiting access to pleasure boats. ", says this child of Bonifacio, son of a lighthouse keeper, who knows "every rock, every corner", including underwater, from the nature reserve he has been following for 40 years.
The closure of the north of Lavezzo Island must be effective between 15 and 30 June by decision of the maritime prefect for a period of 3 years. During this period, the benefits for marine flora and birds must be evaluated, whose nesting and learning sites located on the islets of the archipelago may be impacted by a possible postponement effect. "The big shipping companies have understood that it is necessary to make more round trips," says our observer, and the action plan also plans to "promote a complementary orientation of the offer of carriers to the neighboring island of Cavallo".
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Prohibition to anchor around the islands of Ratini, Sperduto and Purragia.
Jean-Michel Culioli wants to raise awareness among "socio-economic actors" to convince them to respect these new constraints. "We tell them they have a gem. In Corsica, the year is made over two months. We must guard againstthe uberization of society, which is also found at sea. This is why the 14 buoys surrounding the Lavezzi Islands are now allocated by the Environment Office, to professionals only, who must reserve a slot." And it is now forbidden for boaters to anchor within a perimeter of 250 m around the islands of Ratini, Sperduto and Purragia.
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The mountain is not to be outdone. Restrictions apply to the Bavella massif, a mecca for hiking and canyoning. "There was a lot of anarchic parking on this unsafe mountain road, with a problem of distortion. This has been removed either by the installation of barriers and boulders, "says to the Figaro Marie-Luce Castelli, head of the service "Valorisation and dynamics of territories" at the Office of the Environment of Corsica. Car parks have been set up. Most existed, but they remained unknown, and abandoned by the Corsicans themselves.
Four ecoguards are now there to watch over the site and inform, from July 1 to August 31, about the existence of the parking and reception area of Ponte Grossu, free, which can now hold a hundred vehicles against 25 on average previously. There is also the Arghjavara area and the Bavella car park, but both are paying. "By reclaiming the territory, the limitation of attendance is done by development," says this engineer who also deals with the improvement of the living environment related to dry stone.
Acceptable alternatives
In the Restonica valley, it is the redevelopment of the Lamaghjosu car park, paying from May to September (€6 for cars, €3 for motorcycles), which contributes both to the self-financing of the municipality and to protect the site. But the car still seems to be a necessary evil on the island where the railway network is a long-term project. In Bavella, there is no limitation of car crossings, of which there has never been a count, nor for pedestrians elsewhere (while there are twelve pedestrian counts on the GR20).
But "Bavella is a territorial road. There are no quotas. We must focus on demarketing and offer acceptable alternatives," explains Marie-Luce Castelli. It evokes the networks Mare à Mare (north, south and center) and Mare è Monti (north and south), which change long-distance hiking trails, and the 17 Heritage trails, which allows locals to reclaim the latter and travelers to meet them.
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