French nature parks warn of ‘dangerous results’ of mass tourism

Issued on: 07.09.2021 – 08:23

Amid the uncertainties about how Covid-19 will evolve and border restrictions, many French are choosing to explore their own country rather than going abroad for the summer vacation. The effects are not all positive.

After a high season in summer 2020 for nature tourism, this year is developing into a busy one. Bookings are up 20 percent, according to figures from G2A advisory to the National Association of Mountain Resort Mayors (ANMSM).

“Although we welcome this reunion between the French and their nature, we must now call on them to be extremely vigilant,” warned France’s national and regional parks in a collective letter last month.

“Our natural spaces are fragile.”

In 2020, the Hautes-Alpes in south-eastern France welcomed the greatest number of summer tourists ever.

The park of Ecrins saw an increase in visitor numbers, as did the region around Gavarnie, in the Hautes-Pyrénées, where there were 30 percent more tourists than in 2019.

“The most important change is the new audience that comes from nearby urban areas and is not all familiar with the mountains,” said Pierrick Navizet of the Ecrins Park.

“Bad Manners Explosion”

At the Lauvitel lake, a grandiose and easily accessible natural site in Isère, in the south-east, up to 1,000 people hiked on weekends last August. Park rangers noted an “explosion of bad behavior”.

They recorded a doubling of the crimes compared to 2019: garbage dumping, forest fires, theft of equipment, broken chalets and more.

“We were a bit exhausted,” admits Pierre-Henri Peyret, head of the sector, after last summer, adding, “but it’s up to us to adapt”.

When presenting a management plan for the new season, he said the priority is better communication to inform the public about best practices such as:

There are two ways to get the message across. The first is Instagram, where many inexperienced hikers come up with their next excursion idea, and the second is in the parks themselves, where other rangers will be present to “raise awareness of the regulations” but also to organize activities such as identification of Wildlife.

Shuttles, not cars

In the Vercors, a massif near the cities of Lyon and Grenoble, 294 visitors crowded around 60 parking spaces in one day in the La Molière protected area last year.

“If you’ve parked for half an hour, arguing with someone else about a space, you’re no longer in the nature reserve, but in mass consumption,” complains Quentin Chabanne, project manager in the Vercors Regional Nature Park.

The park is now considering banning cars from the site and replacing them with a shuttle service.

(With AFP)