Sustainable Tourism
Context
Rapidly evolving tourism practices in Le Havre had further complicated the political, social, and environmental sectors. More visitors were attracted to the area for longer periods, while the growing industry had to support an intricate system. The city and surrounding areas were made up of a complex patchwork of very diverse but complementary environments: old and new, urban and rural, industrial and natural protected areas, and towns and villages. Significant steps were continually required to protect these complimentary differences.
In March 2006, the City of Le Havre joined the UN Global Compact Cities Programme with a view to developing sustainable tourism. The Mayor, Antoine Rufenacht, proposed to his partners to build this project on the scale of the whole Estuary. The territory is divided into several levels of territorial organisation: regions, departments, cities, inter communal instances (communities of several towns), countries.
Since becoming a member of the UNGCCP, the city of Le Havre has been working on the project entitled ‘Sustainable Tourism of Le Havre and the Seine Estuary’.
Summary
To maintain the central role that sustainable development plays in local policy
Seeking to Address:
Key questions that drove Le Havre’s engagement, included:
- How may the political, technical and socio-professional players and the inhabitants of the Seine Estuary be organised and federated to make this territory more visible and more attractive?
- How can the Seine estuary be made into a recognised tourist destination?
- How may a tourist offer conforming to the criteria of sustainable development be improved, developed and promoted in a coherent manner?
Objectives
- To support local socio-economic initiatives (including local Agenda 21)
- To promote the local region by focusing on sustainable tourism
- To encourage local businesses to engage in sustainable tourism
Strategies
The project focuses on three equally important and mutually inclusive actions:
- List and promote the the existing actions and projects in the field of sustainable tourism
- Arrange transport so that tourists and inhabitants can use environment-friendly means
- Developing and promoting estuarial tourist amenities, such as the favouring the development of water and open air sports
Actions
Following the community survey work, the Local Secretariat continued to implement a number of collaborative initatives that promoted sustainable tourism to the local community and visitors of Le Havre and its region. Not only did these initiatives focus on the promotion of sustainable tourism, it had also been catalyst for regional groups (for example aurh, the Town Planning Agency for Le Havre and the Seine Estuary) to discuss how to improve accessibility and transportation opportunities between the neighbouring urban centres in the Seine region.
Timeline
2006 Topic Identification
2007 Project Design/Implementation
2008 Implementation
2009 Implementation
Results
Under the moderation of the Town Planning Agency for Le Havre and the Seine estuary area (AURH), the technical working group of socio professional partners and representatives from tourism departments in local administrative organisations have come together in this ambitious and topical project to broaden sustainable tourism to a larger scale.
The project has allowed the City of Le Havre to be at the forefront of sustainable tourism, therefore improving environmental protection, employment and the overall living environment.
