Gone are the days when Matisse painted the crystal clear water of Marseille’s creeks in peace. To prevent overcrowding in the summer months, the Calanques National Park plans to introduce a daily gauge of authorized people on the site, thanks to a digital reservation platform.
The device and its terms of application should be acted on Tuesday, July 13, following a board meeting. In particular, it will be decided whether this measure will be applied from this summer. This free reservation system would be a first in France, where natural spaces are free to access. In other countries, the United States, Costa Rica or Chile, paying a ticket to hike in a national park is common.
In the summer of 2020, the calanque d’En-Vau peaked at 3,500 visitors per day, twice as many as the previous year. A beach already saturated in normal times. The city of Marseille welcomed nearly 3.5 million tourists over the same period, an increase in attendance of 60% compared to 2019.
“As many tourists as locals”
The park experienced another disturbing phenomenon: during the last weekends of November 2020 and January 2021, the site attendance was similar to that of the summer season. “Last year, the French did not go abroad because of the Covid-19, and they favored local trips. The particularity of our site is that it welcomes as many tourists as locals who have not gone on vacation ”, tries to explain François Bland, the director of the national park.
The 8,500 hectares of the Calanques National Park, divided between the municipalities of Marseille, Cassis and La Ciotat, are home to around a hundred protected animal and plant species. However, overcrowding has a serious impact on the environment.
Soil erosion first, with pines that risk loosening, by dint of walks, sometimes off the trails. But also on the underwater flora, such as the Posidonia herbarium, a robust plant that is very useful against global warming but often torn off by the anchors of boats. This is the main reason for the ban, since May 20, for all boats (including small rental, more and more popular) to anchor in the busy creeks of En-Vau and Port-Pin. .
After twenty-five years of the Gaudin era, who had bet on these superb coves to promote the attractiveness of Marseille, the Calanques national park, created in 2012 to take care of this space, has taken a turn. The mooring reservation and ban measures are part of a larger “demarketing” campaign unprecedented in France.
Now, on its website, the park warns: “Cold water”, “difficult access”. The titles are not more attractive: “Survive the creeks and …”, “… Outlive the others”. Words accompanied by pictures of crowded beaches or articles on the impact of social networks on the park, with the publication of idyllic but deceptive photos. A way like any other to cool walkers.