In Ardèche, the box full of nature holidays

Saturday August 13, motorhomes registered in the Netherlands, dragging themselves under the Ardèche heat wave, are even more numerous than in previous years. This summer, they filled the campsites set up on the banks of the Ardèche or the Chassezac, its main tributary. Melissa and her husband, Kada Bezzazi, the two managers of the Mazet-Plage campsite, in Berrias-et-Casteljau, are exhausted, but have a big smile.

“For us, this is a record year. An exceptional summer », enthuses Mr. Bezzazi. The one hundred and fifty pitches and fifty mobile homes, nestled on a bank of the Chassezac, were full or almost full. ” The week [du 1^er août], we have reached 98% fill rate. It is enormous ! On average, we are running at 88%. It’s the first year that we’ve been hitting the mark.”rejoices the couple.

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They are not the only ones rubbing their hands. The whole of the Ardèche benefited from an influx of tourists this summer. “We are at + 10% in overnight stays compared to 2019, the last year before the Covid-19 pandemic, and again, the data is provisional”enthuses Richard Buffat, director of the Ardèche Tourisme tourism development agency.

According to the first counts made in July, the department recorded more than three hundred thousand additional overnight stays compared to 2019 (at the time, the agency had already counted three million). “If this trend were confirmed in the final figures, we would count a million more overnight stays over the year”anticipates the director of Ardèche Tourisme.

Chosen land of cool babes

Even more than the other French departments, the chosen land of the cool babas of the 1970s was full of visitors. To the point of placing “in the very first rural departments in terms of attendance, excluding the Côte d’Azur”according to Mr. Buffat. “As of July 15, there were 1.5 million tourists, for a department which has just over three hundred thousand inhabitants”, he wondered. Growth which was confirmed in August, thanks to “on the return of foreign customers, and especially European ones”observes Guilhem Poncy, head of the marketing studies division for Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Tourisme.

For Richard Buffat, director of Ardèche Tourisme, “many newcomers previously preferred “all inclusive” stays [tout compris] in Morocco or Tunisia »

Its good summer fortune, the Ardèche owes it above all to the Dutch. This summer, they came in droves. Mr. Buffat has not yet recovered: “Alone, they represent 16% of the clientele, more than 12% of Parisians. » A spectacular leap, as they represented only 10% of tourists in 2019. For many of them, the Ardèche is a discovery or a distant rediscovery.

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