The “Little Corsica of the Atlantic”the “pearl of the Charente estuary”a “crescent of paradise where time seems to be suspended”. The tourist brochures of the Rochefort Océan Agglomeration Community do not skimp on praise to describe the island of Aix. It is one of the major tourist sites of Charente-Maritime, just like the islands of Ré and Oléron or the famous Fort Boyard. Too much, maybe?
The island, which has around 230 inhabitants year-round, is a victim of its own success. Evoking an overcrowding which rises to 8,000 visitors per day in summer, on a piece of land 3 kilometers long and 600 meters wide at most, the mayor, Patrick Denaud, is sounding the alarm. To be sure that it is heard, this former journalist uttered an unpublished word in a department where the economy is mainly based on tourism (nearly 2 billion euros in turnover in 2022): “demarketing”.
The concept is to limit the increase in demand rather than encourage it. The Calanques National Park (Bouches-du-Rhône) experimented with it in 2020, by reviewing its communication, before choosing, in the summer of 2022, to reduce access on certain days to this Mediterranean jewel. The island of Aix is not yet to establish a compulsory reservation. Unlike Ré and Oléron, linked to the mainland by a bridge, visitors must take one of the ferry ferries which make a daily connection from Fouras or, in season, cruise ships departing from La Rochelle, Boyardville (Oléron) or La Tremblade. But the flow of tourists has become a source of problems, both for elected officials and for residents.
A dilapidated water network
“The island is no longer suitable to accommodate such a number of people, assures Patrick Denaud. We are no longer able to ensure security at the port, where people sometimes jostle to get on or off the ferry, nor to manage the amount of waste left by visitors each day, which must be evacuated by boat. It is also necessary to maintain the natural spaces, the roads, because we receive delivery trucks, and the sanitary facilities are in short supply. Some places have become open toilets. »
More serious according to the mayor, the water network, which “more than 30 year “, shows signs of wear and tear. In July, in the middle of a heat wave, the island was deprived of drinking water for nearly twenty-four hours due to a burst pipe. It happened again a few hours after the repair. Luckily, there was no fire that day. “We also had to close our campsite in the middle of summer, which is in a deplorable state”, regrets the mayor.
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