“In summer, the population in the city is multiplied by eight”, calculates the town hall of Saint-Briac-sur-Mer (35). The influx of holidaymakers transforms, for two months, the face of this town which has about 2,000 inhabitants the rest of the year, requires the establishment of additional means to accommodate everyone.
Same observation in Arzon (56), at the entrance to the Gulf of Morbihan: “We turn to 120 municipal employees all year round, who work in the town hall, health establishments… In the summer, I have to take 40 additional seasonal workers”, explains the mayor, Roland Tabart. From 2,400 inhabitants listed by INSEE, Arzon goes to “between 35,000 to 40,000 people” in the summer, according to the elected official, i.e. a multiplication by 15. It should be noted that Arzon is the municipality of Brittany which has the highest proportion of second homes in its housing stock (77.2%).
Parking and cleanliness
With such an influx of population, traffic and parking are among the main challenges that these municipalities must meet. “In the morning, I already have at least 35,000 cars in the city, it’s a big problem: the space is not enough for all these vehicles”, remarks Roland Tabart, while many people only pass a day in Arzon, often in transit, time to rent a boat or to visit the Gulf of Morbihan.
“We are setting up a blue zone from July 1 to September 1 because parking is a problem”, explains the town hall of Saint-Briac-sur-Mer (35), which has installed a shuttle system to bring tourists to the beach without them having to use their car.
In Bénodet (29), “the objective is to welcome tourists in good conditions”, announces the mayor, Christian Pennanec’h. “We have an obligation of result in relation to what they expect, in terms of cleanliness for example. Waste management is indeed a key issue for this city, which can count up to 25,000 people during the summer. The community of municipalities then sets up additional collection trucks, while the town hall hires young seasonal workers to clean the beaches and subcontracts another part of the task to private companies.
In Saint-Lunaire (35), we assume to emphasize the responsibility of tourists on this subject. “During the covid-19 epidemic, we decided to remove a certain number of trash cans and direct people directly to the sorting points to free up time for our municipal agents,” says Vincent Bouche, deputy mayor. responsible for the environment and biodiversity. “It’s the third season where we’ve been operating like this and it’s working very well,” he rejoices.
A more spread out tourist season?
Despite the economic benefits that come from welcoming summer visitors, some town halls want to avoid congestion in their town. Thus, in Arzon, Roland Tabart is thinking about “solutions to lengthen the seasonality, so that vacationing happens just as well in winter, autumn and spring as in summer”.
We also note that tourist practices are changing, which can create new problems. “Recently, we have been witnessing a new phenomenon which is becoming more and more recurrent: as soon as it is hot, there are many people who come to spend the weekend here, even outside the summer period. It is these more punctual tourist flows that can raise questions, ”analyzes Vincent Bouche. “On bridge weekends, like that of Ascension Thursday, if the weather is nice, we can have a congestion similar to that of August 15”, summarizes the elected representative of Saint-Lunaire.
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