G. de Hartingh-Boca
Ghislaine de Hartingh-Boca is with the Environmental Protection Division of the French Ministry of the Environment in Neuilly-sur-Seine.
An experiment by the French Ministry of the Environment in promoting nature tourism packages in the country's national parks.
The Régalon Gorge in the Lubéron Natural Park
The Division of Nature and Scenic Landscapes of the French Ministry of the Environment has as its tourist objective a genuine concern for the conservation of France's protected areas as well as a desire to inform visitors about the vegetation, wildlife and cultural importance of these areas. Nature tourism in France is undeniably still in its infancy. This article examines related studies and initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of the Environment.
A few figures set the scene: about one-quarter of France is forested; some 21 percent of the terrain is hilly or mountainous and the country has 3100 km of coastline. Of a total area of 550000 (km²) protected areas constitute 7 percent. Classified as protected areas are vast tracts such as the centrally located Parc National des Ecrins (91800 ha) and pocket-size areas such as Pointe du Raz or the "fairy chimney" sector of St-Gervais-les-Bains. Depending on the lawmakers' objectives and how the law is implemented, protected areas may or may not be open to the public for leisure purposes.
In any case, without a broad public consensus that protected areas are a national imperative (including the consensus of people who never visit them), to maintain such areas notwithstanding the occasional hostile reactions of the people who live there would be highly undemocratic. Parks are legitimate only where the public values them as an integral part of its national heritage.
Tourist accommodation is one way (although not the only way) to enlist or reinforce public cooperation. The many facets of accommodation include clean and inviting spaces with marked paths, clean and comfortable but not necessarily luxurious information centres, adapted to the needs of the public; all these elements factor into the perceived overall quality of the accommodation offered and favour public acceptance of national parks. As an example, a more readily accepted rule is one that explains why, as witness the difference between "no dogs" and "for wildlife protection, dogs are not allowed in the park".
Tourism promotion provides an opportunity to promote public awareness of nature conservation through the provision of guides, nature study trails, lectures, videogames and so forth. It also helps to extend visitors' understanding of the importance of environmental protection outside protected areas.
It may well be in the park's interest to intervene, not only in the protected area itself but also in the development of tourism facilities in the surrounding area. This may be the case particularly where operations entailing a glut of visitors could easily threaten the park's image of integrity.
Active management and development
Nature study trails, trail marking, signs, information centres, rest rooms, refuges, parking lots, trail upgrading or access for the handicapped are all aspects of reception which inevitably entail a certain amount of development. The fact that a small, 20-car parking lot along a road may be perceived as more intrusive than a high-altitude refuge is clear evidence that there is some subjectivity or cultural bias in the perception of such development. Clearly, some activities have more serious potential effects than others: grading and widening of cross-country ski trails has gradually increased the impact of a sport originally considered quite "natural".
Need for area management plans
A management plan based on a prior analysis of the area's ecological potential will zone the park as to the appropriate environmental management approach: grazing permitted, no intervention whatsoever, etc. Reception areas and the appropriate degree of access may range from no access to individual access on foot, marked trails, nature study trails, signposts, seasonal reception centres and permanent reception centres to deltaplaning.
There are two preconditions for the development of nature tourism:
· The park's "environmental" maintenance must be reinforced, for only an exemplary natural setting or exemplary architecture can attract tourists for long stays.· Provisions for tourists must be designed to show what the park has to offer: "nature" tourism must allow visitors to discover the park's natural assets for themselves. However, no matter how interesting these assets may be, they are not per se enough to attract tourists without good, dependable facilities that are there when needed.
A mountain goat in the Vanoise National Park
Where tourism development in protected areas adheres to the strict respect of nature, this can become one more component of the park's nature protection activities. The important thing in a field such as tourism, where competition is so intense, is to be as effective and professional as possible in support of both private and public sector initiatives.
Promoting and marketing tourism naturally implies major investments, which only become profitable when they reach a certain critical mass public even (so far as the public is concerned) in terms of job creation, for instance. Clearly, joint actions shared by a number of parks have significantly more impact for each than a series of disparate, unrelated activities.
Starting out
In 1991 the Ministry of the Environment allocated F 150000 for a series of preliminary studies into the potential of all-inclusive tourism packages in the country's national parks. The original decision was to study parks in northern Europe, looking at existing facilities and interviewing visitors to the Lake District in England, Terschelling in the Netherlands, Nordeifel-Hautes Fagnes, foreign visitors to the Camargue and to the Parc des Landes in Gascogne, and travel operators specializing in nature discovery tours in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
The study confirmed that there was a market for nature travel and broke this clientele down into two segments: a genuine, although small, market for nature "fanatics" (already well served by certain tour operators or associations); and a much broader and expanding market of people with an interest in nature who might like to visit the parks, provided they could offer a combination of culture, nature, regional cuisine, comfortable accommodation in an isolated natural setting and a genuine, home-style welcome rather than a professional one.
The study showed that, while there was a market for such tourism, it needed to be systematically tailored to clients' expectations and the marketing needed to be organized. The Division of the Protection of Nature decided that an acceptable operation would be one allowing a private partner to recoup an investment within five years. Specifications would set out precise quality standards to be met in exchange for the use of the park label. In order to test this operation on a large scale and to provide for a secure future, early in 1991 the State Secretariat for the Environment registered the name "Parcs Naturels de France", which is managed exclusively by the French Federation of Natural Parks.
At that time, a decision was made to launch competitive bidding, which led to the drawing up of an initial list of concrete commercial products and proposals in 1991. The Bicy-Club was chosen to present about 15 reliable park products, the objective being to make a real life-size test that focused on German clients.
The parks have set themselves the following code of conduct: nature tourism is acceptable, but with managed flows of people; control of visitor presence (which means an evaluation of park carrying capacity); and the channelling of visitors to the various points of interest and focal points (the nature study trails, for instance). Park tourism must not be concentrated in any one area. There must be an environmental approach and contact with park professionals as well as with local people. Aids to discovery, such as hiking trails, trail biking, canoeing, are becoming increasingly popular. The main goal of the national parks is to "channel" the flow of tourists while that of the regional nature parks is to improve the "quality" of visitor flow.
Tourism on horseback in Pilat Natural Park
Guided tours constitute the basic service around which tourist facilities should be structured. In terms of tourist economics, guided tours have been the one way in which the parks could legitimately intervene and where they could make their greatest contribution. Not to be forgotten, of course, is the fact that these are national parks and, therefore, any plans must be strictly subordinate to the basic purpose of national parks: to maintain the equilibrium of priceless natural settings.
The offer of all-inclusive tourist packages does not encourage park overcrowding because it breaks leisure time into segments (staggered vacations, long weekends, specific off-season nature discovery activities). The strategy is one of image, not of increasing turnover, and accounts for a very small percentage of the flow of visitors to the parks.
Tourist packages are lump-sum offers which include lodging and entertainment, for example: a certain number of days with a certain number of nights at a hotel; guided wildlife discovery walks; interesting buildings; and regional traditions, including quality cuisine. The offer may be made by a hotel, an association, a permanent environmental orientation centre or any other group, including, perhaps, the park itself. But it must in all cases offer intimate contact with nature in a safe, dependable setting.
Tourist facilities: "nature tours"
In 1990, an initial selection of 12 discovery tours in two national parks (Vanoise and Mercantour), and seven regional nature parks (Armorique, Brenne, Landes, Lubéron, Queyras, Vercors, Vosges du Nord) was made for the 1991 tourist season. In 1991, 32 tours, including seven weekends in six national parks and 16 regional nature parks, were offered for the 1992 tourist season. Thirty-one were then selected for marketing in 1993. The first year, 70 packages were sold, the second year 140 while, in] 993, the figure will top 300, thanks to successful promotion with an ecologically minded Swiss tour operator.
Guaranteed "park" tours
These are one-week tours and hikes (unaccompanied or guided) which offer a privileged approach to the parks' cultural and natural assets and which are made available by local operators in collaboration with the parks. Authenticated and backed by the label "Parcs Naturels de France", they identify discovery tours unique to the parks, including:
· specific literature and introductory material for each park (trails, maps guides, wildlife or plant life observation);· guided tours by park guards or scientists (or experts recommended by the park), guided nature hikes or tours;
· activities to improve and facilitate access to and discovery of the environment (hiking and biking trails, canoeing, small planes, etc.);
· quality accommodation and meals, for example in villages or hamlets (in two - and three - star hotels, guest rooms or comfortable self-catering accommodation) or maximum-care, organized bivouacs where the exceptional nature of the site so merits, with meals based on the regional specialities. Transfers and baggage transport are included.
Winter tourism in the Pyrenees; the Rolando Pass
The volcanoes of Auvergne, In the Massif Central
Marketing is often the weak link in the rural tourism chain. As an aid to the implementation of these facilities, the country's Federation of Natural Parks has carried out two operations since 1991. For the French market, the federation has organized publication of the brochure "Voyages au nature!". For the European market, brochures have been distributed by the travel agency, Clés de France, under contract with the French Federation of Natural Parks to Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Switzerland. Moreover, "tourist sheets" have been prepared for foreign tour handlers and operators; contests have been organized for tour operators selling the federation's packages; and professional travel fellowships have been organized by the Club Nature et Découverte.
The brochure is distributed by Wagon-slits and advertised by cultural tourist operators. The Federation does not try to sell more than 500 packages nationwide (direct sales within the parks are not counted), as the objective is a range of appeal and destinations for an 80 percent tourist presence during the off-season.
From 10000 to 15000 catalogues are also distributed and these tend to promote "free" visits.
We are now looking at ways to improve and expand the possibilities for nature tourism, for example:
· lodgings with character, a series of nature hotels which include preexisting small rural hotels, restored buildings and new lodge constructions;· refuges, including preparation of a quality charter for refuges;
· shelters for backpackers, the quality of which will be upgraded.
Lodgings with character
We began our feasibility study with the observation that accommodation in France's natural parks was lacking in amenities or obsolete. We tried to make the most of the network impact of the parks to work out whether a global approach based on a set of small-scale lodgings was feasible and to give priority to a revival of local architecture. We have arrived at the following conclusion: we intend to launch our chain in 1994 on a voluntary basis with small rural hotels, already managed with the objective of giving the clientele an opportunity to observe and appreciate nature.
Refuges
A programme to rehabilitate refuges, originated by the French Alpine Club for the purpose of proposing a quality charter for all refuge owners, is on the agenda. The Ministries of Tourism and the Environment are working together on this. They will insist on environmental standards, for example regarding waste water and refuges, particularly alpine refuges.
It is noteworthy that, although the French Alpine Club owns about half the refuges in France, some national parks do also. The Vanoise National Park offers accommodation in 18 refuges (1726 beds, 44000 occupancies per season), Mercantour National Park has two shelter huts and the Pyrenees National Park has five (6530 overnight stays). Such accommodation is an easy way to portray the "park" image to the hiker.
Trail shelters
An evaluation of the ensemble of accomodation offered in several French departments clearly brings out the fact that such accommodation is in short supply. There are major geographical disparities and sizeable physical, operational and rate gaps in what is on offer. The study also shows a clear lack of comfort and hygiene, mediocre performances in both turnover and attendance, relatively young operators who lack the professional touch for want of the proper training, excessive emphasis on one particular service and extremely rudimentary managerial styles.
A programme to upgrade the services of the shelters has thus been launched by the main regional backpacking and hiking associations (Grande Traversée des Alpes, ABRI, CHAMINA, Randonnées Pyrénéennes). The various relevant ministries (Tourism, Environment, Agriculture and Forests, etc.) are being asked for their help. The operation consists of facilitating operations to improve trail shelters by clearly spelling out the necessary investment preconditions.
In each of the four zones involved (the Alps, Brittany, the Massif Central and the Pyrenees, a selection has been made based on sufficiently well-known itineraries, the interest of the operators in upgrading their facilities and the interest and awareness of the local communities.
The associations, banded together as the "Grand Accueil Association", have undertaken the preparation of a quality charter which should allow the trail shelters to be ranked by category.
Since 1991, the Ministry of the Environment has invested F 200000 to 250000 per year in the development of nature tourism packages for the country's natural parks. This investment, plus complementary commitments by the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests have been made, not with an eye to obtaining direct financial returns but rather as part of an effort to improve the understanding and appreciation of nature and the environment among the public in general and tourists in particular. Efforts have been especially centred on providing quality tourism packages with an emphasis on off-season travel.
This initiative, taken by the ministries and the Federation of Natural Parks, is destined to remain limited in terms of quantity: at maximum, the direct promotion of more than 30 packages - of the highest quality - is foreseen. On the other hand, it is the federation's hope that this will have a "snowball effect" and that a much larger number of nature tourism packages will be developed by other, independent operators. In this way, the federation will have contributed to an increased appreciation of nature and, ultimately, an improved quality of life for our citizens.
