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  Could Rhône-Alpes be made open to the world while preserving its cultural diversity ?

Mrs. Anne-Marie COMPARINI - President of the Rhône-Alpes Regional Council, France

 

Mr Minister,
Mr Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization,
Tourism professionals,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to tell you how delighted I am to be here with you this afternoon to bring these tourism summits to a close. The question I have been asked : "Could the Rhône-Alpes region be opened up to the world while preserving its cultural diversity ?” touches on the very heart of the campaign initiated by the government with decentralisation, and the Rhône-Alpes region. I often say : we must not be afraid of opening up. As inevitable as it is in a world where it is increasingly essential and in a steadily developing Europe, I firmly believe that we should see it as a source of undeniable riches. That said, it cannot be done without a strong foundation, without a sound knowledge of its identity, created primarily around a common heritage. The European citizen, we hope and pray, is no less attached to a heritage and in the Rhône-Alpes region, the latter is no small one ! The great quest of our contemporaries, quality strikes me as the essential criteria for guiding our actions as far as tourism is concerned.

YES, because

1. Rhône-Alpes has quality potential in terms of tourism.

The institutional youth of the region is matched by the antiquity of the territories that comprise it. We have only to think of the Grotte Chauvet, a testament to artistic expression in Rhône-Alpes 32,000 years ago ! Since then, so many names and titles bear witness to a rich history : Gaul capital, the Dauphiné, Savoy, the sovereign principality of the Dombes and a host of others. Throughout the centuries, some 800 châteaux, churches or abbeys were erected, not to mention the numerous historic cities. In total, Rhône-Alpes boasts more than 2000 listed historical buildings, 200 museums and 500 themed houses.

This cultural heritage already bears witness to the beneficial nature of the external contributions that we are endeavouring to preserve and using to bring to life this rich legacy of the past. The Rhône-Alpes prize for heritage is awarded for firm action while the cultural heritage conventions concluded with the individual Departments enable the co-ordination of efforts in this area.

In addition to first class monuments and cities, we also have territories that are very pronounced culturally. The various lands are the source of a huge diversity of landscapes and flavours. Golden or grey stones here, adobe or half-timbering there, the ancient stones in our towns and villages give each place a unique character. This geographical kaleidoscope is matched in food terms by a gastronomy that is itself an entire chapter of our heritage. World famous products form the basis of the feast that master chefs have been offering the Rhône-Alpes gourmet for several centuries.

The region can boast a long wine-producing tradition. The Latin poet Martial celebrated Vienne "the wine growing region" while, in the last century, Victor Hugo mentioned the passion of the great Pompey for the wine of Tournon. Today, although the Beaujolais is the third largest river in Lyon, so many other quality regional wines, such as those from the Savoy regions, are filling the amateur's glass.

Speaking of gastronomy leads me on to stress that the attraction held by the Rhône-Alpes region over tourism could not be understood without the intensity of the cultural life we enjoy. Responsible for showing one quarter of all French shows, Rhône-Alpes holds second place in France behind Paris, with a thousand venues and more than 200 festival type or biennial events. It is also the second largest editorial hub in the country : there is a fine preservation of the influence of the Renaissance printing works ! (note : AMC: regional branch established in Annecy)

YES, also

2. With such potential, the Rhône-Alpes region is anxious to guide tourists in order to offer them a quality experience, this concerning three main axes :

- in order to contribute fully to personal development, tourism activity must be prepared for with adequate training. Aware of the wealth offered by widespread youth, with 35% of the region's inhabitants under 25, the region devotes half of its budget to training, both secondary and higher. The construction and maintenance of such establishments does not constitute the sum total of its actions in this area. The latter involves the preparation and encouragement of young people in the cultural customs. Culture cheques, which have been a resounding success with more than 100,000 chequebooks sold each year, subsidise the purchase of a book, a record or tickets for a show or the cinema for secondary school students and apprentices. The "Students at the cinema" and "Students at the opera" initiatives provide for the education of the taste of young people in the region by enabling them to meet professional artists and study the works in depth. Inviting secondary school students and apprentices to participate in this discovery is a sound guarantee of quality cultural practices for the future.

- The quality to be advanced is also that of the regional offer. The latter needs to be better known, despite significant previous efforts: only 10% of cultural heritage sites receive more than 30,000 annual visitors and 10 of them, more than 100,000 people. The Regional Tourism Committee, a regional communication tool, is responsible for the region's tourism promotion. The creation, Mr Chairman of the Hotel and Catering Union, of tourist information guides and themed itinerary maps for exploration, viewable online, should help the tourist to find his way around an extremely wide-ranging offer of attractions. This would involve main themes for appreciating the various territories. This knowledge and expertise, built up in collaboration with local partners, is the subject of discussions within our decentralised co-operation. The snowshoe trek around Savoy's baroque churches immediately inspired itineraries of the same type developed in the Malopolska voivodship, a Polish region twinned with Rhône-Alpes. Here also, opening up and knowledge exchange could be beneficial. I would also add that the promotion of our territories is complemented by the co-production of films made in the region and which show off the Rhône-Alpes landscapes to advantage. After the Dombes, Vercors will have the honour of playing host to Le Papillon, starring Michel Serrault, released on 18 December.

- I would like to point out the particular concern of the Rhône-Alpes region to appeal to all types of tourists and, in particular, to those suffering from a handicap. The acquisition of new rolling stock and the gradual bringing of the old stock into compliance with current standards should make the local rail network particularly attractive to the disabled and handicapped wishing to visit the region. This accessibility is also much sought after and financially supported for both sporting and cultural activities. The list of specially adapted cultural sites will soon be available on the Internet via a link from the regional council's site. The region wishes to promote the idea of "specially adapted tourist accommodation territories", through contract-based links with voluntary local communities.

And finally, YES

3. The quality is not limited to our potential, nor to the discovery that we are inviting the tourists to participate in : we are also seeking that of tourism as a fully fledged economic activity, hence as a sector of sustainable development.

Our efforts are focused in two directions :

- the quality must be that of the structure of the tourism economy in the Rhône-Alpes region. France's second largest tourism centre, the Rhône-Alpes region plays host to its guests in more than 2,600 hotels, 900 camp sites and 2,300 country gîtes.
We are anxious that the professional situation of those active in the tourism sector, in particular seasonal workers, should enjoy greater security. This is the inspiration behind our "resort-valley" contracts and the "standard resort contracts", which are used in addition to preventive actions against dangers which could threaten the health of these seasonal workers. We should also mention the investments we have devoted to the technical colleges that prepare for the various professions within the hotel, catering, culture and tourism sector: these are sectors with a real need for a skilled workforce.
By assisting the cultural networks to become more structured, we help to perpetuate the quality of the Rhône-Alpes cultural offer. Earlier I mentioned films showing images from our region. In collaboration with Rhône-Alpes Cinéma, the regional council has co-produced over 100 films, several of which have been awarded prizes and distinctions. We are henceforth the second largest filming region in France, a veritable driving force for the local economies and an unquestionable promoter of the quality of our natural and cultural environment. In order to support students of cinema with their integration into the world of work, we have brought in a grant to assist them with writing a first short film script.
The same objective is behind our interventions for the benefit of new music, recently given a regional plan. And there, above, we have the measures which help to make the quality of the Rhône-Alpes cultural offer long-lasting, a major attraction for tourists.

- The second aspect of the quality of tourism as an economic activity is its impact upon the environment and, on a wider scale, its role in the harmonious development of the territory. As with other economic activities, exploitation of the tourism potential must form part of a sustainable development logic and not of exploitation that is intensive, short term and, more often than not, destructive.

It is not by chance if part of our campaign in favour of tourism enters into the framework of the C.G.D., and then the C.D.R.A. These partnership-related territorial development tools thus guarantee a concerted campaign, respectful of local treasures and the expectations of the population in question.

The P.N.R., of which there are 6 in the Rhône-Alpes region, share the same logic. Far from being limited to the static preservation of a natural environment, they enable a territory's identity to be exploited and developed around a production or a tradition. Here, opening up to tourism has proven, in resounding fashion, the invigorating role of tourism for the territories and their cultural heritage. I recently opened the Mountains of Ardèche P.N.R., established around the chestnut. This is the fruit of a local initiative by the growers. It is part of the European chestnut route, which guides tourists through territories with a firm identity.

The development of vast areas around significant monuments or cultural activities is the subject of several Major Projects of Regional Interest which feature within our new S.R.A.D.T. I could name at least two, that of the Great Lake at Bourget and that in the southern Ardèche centred around the grotte Chauvet. Here, there are real possibilities for developing quality economic and tourism areas.

To sum up, I see quality as the best way of ensuring tourism worthy of being called cultural. Although the word culture is not overused, it implies preparation, effort, education and time for discovery. To be satisfied, the cultural tourist requires a quality object. It is this encounter that the regional council is endeavouring to favour by structuring it and by seeking to ensure that all concerned draw a lasting benefit from it. It is on this condition that Rhône-Alpes will preserve and develop its tourism potential and shall thus preserve its identities. I thank you.