Les Sentiers Plaisir®: a welcome that is gaining ground
The idea of Sentiers Plaisir® was born in 1989 from the observation that the Bruche valley lacked a real culture of welcome. That the inhabitants, although very attached to their territory, do not assert their pride in being there and are not its ambassadors. The valley, deserted by the textile industry, is losing its economic attractiveness and, in the eyes of the inhabitants, its appeal. Therefore, how can we restore confidence and pride to residents waiting for a providential industry that would come “as a savior” to give them a glimpse of a better future? After years of almost a single flourishing industry, the prospect of an alternative based on the development of “green tourism” is seen as a palliative in a territory in real “depression” about its future…
Take control of your destiny
A political awareness then emerges and with the first major decentralization plans, the opportunity appears for the valley to take back control of its destiny. An intermunicipality of development was created in 1988 through a SIVOM whose strategic orientations are based on: the reuse of industrial wastelands, the reconquest of landscapes abandoned by agriculture and integrated tourism. The fact remains that, without residents in this project, nothing is possible. Reconnect with the pride of belonging to this valley, reclaim it and cultivate a true culture of welcome: such is the stated ambition. The mountains and the hiking culture strongly anchored in the Vosges massif offer an opportunity. While it conceals immense natural and heritage riches! The idea was born: who better than anyone else would know how to take the time to take a walk, discover a territory, its heritage, its know-how and share its passions and favorites? The time had come to give voice to the residents. The tourist office is launching its first appeal to the inhabitants of the valley. Long before the concept of Greeters was born in New York and crossed the Atlantic, the first edition of the “welcoming Bruchois” headed by the tourist office called “Sentiers Plaisir” ® saw the light of day in the summer of 1989 It already brings together forty-three outings and twenty-three volunteer leaders.
Immersive and human eXperiences
Encourage meetings between residents and visitors, sharing knowledge from local collective memory or the associative fabric while walking. Open programming to all audiences. Stand out from the classic etiquette of the guided tour and offer simple meetings with those who bring the region to life. Truly immersive and human experiences where in an informal and generous exchange we share a slice of life, customs, local particularities and we re-appropriate our territory through the eyes of others. The concept is simple for both volunteers and visitors. A date, a meeting point, a facilitator, a theme, a defined agenda for the summer period, which can be consulted in advance and which allows the public to freely choose their outings, participation without any obligation to register , nor financial participation. A strong commitment: all walks are honored regardless of the number of participants unless there are weather contraindications.
From a few brochure sheets originally, the Plaisir Trail® editions have evolved, after several attempts to find the most practical option, into a complete and practical program booklet with two entries: by theme with the summary presentation of the walks through the notebook or by date in a central calendar. The detailed program is available to the public in paper edition or downloadable version. Simple, sober, the aim of the brochure is to promote the initiative through a medium that stands out from the usual tourist materials on glossy paper. It is not immediately visible but seeks to arouse curiosity... with colored paper and a cutout which make it a distinctive, pleasant to the touch, qualitative object that we want to keep. In fact, the annual variation makes it a collector's item that many faithful collect year after year. The colorful notebook, like the name Sentiers Plaisir® (also registered), have become essential promotional and communication tools for the Bruche valley.
100 outings, 60 leaders, 40 themes
Maintain the dynamic of continuous programming, enrich it each year with new outings and new themes, anticipate the generational break of volunteers, prevent the program from becoming obsolete and integrate subjects in tune with societal developments. Making the project long-term meant encompassing all of these factors. Over the years, the tourist office has continually identified new “ambassadors”, others have joined the movement through word of mouth or volunteered spontaneously following participation as visitors in the “Pleasure Trails” outings. . In its beginnings, programming was limited to conventional subjects such as history, nature or heritage. Then it was expanded over the decades with new themes in keeping with the times: “family”, “well-being” or “eco-hiking”. Thirty years later the calendar shows 109 outings from mid-June to September and sixty volunteer leaders mobilized on around forty themes throughout the summer.
Environmental commitment and recognition
By joining the Sustainable Tourism Actors network in 2022, the tourist office has perpetuated its commitment to working for virtuous and more humane tourism.
Encouraging carpooling between participants was immediately a choice. Promoting eco-mobility has inevitably become a necessity and an obvious fact, especially since the Bruche valley is the only valley in Alsace served by a railway line (Strasbourg – Saint-Dié – Epinal). From then on, a reorganization was put in place to adjust, as far as possible, the departures of the exits to the arrival times of one of the stations on the line and thus encourage the local public to join the exits in public transport. By joining the Sustainable Tourism Actors network in 2022, the tourist office has perpetuated its commitment to working for virtuous and more humane tourism. The Sustainable Tourism Actors jury praised this long-term work by awarding it the Horizons Trophy for “Pleasure Trails”® in 2022 for local roots. This distinction rewards “initiatives aiming to promote the visitor-visited link and the anchoring of tourism with the local ecosystem. For example: encouraging sharing and the non-commercial tourist/resident relationship, taking into account and involving residents in the tourist offering, promoting citizen initiatives.” This distinction actually goes to the 60 partners who, for one or more outings during the summer, accompany, some for thirty years and others recently, walks throughout the summer. We can bet that this recognition contributes to the sustainability of this initiative which cultivates conviviality between the facilitators, particularly during an annual meal. A real family meal, it's a pleasure to get together to catch up on the news, discuss the year's successes and the improvements to be made.
Les Sentiers Plaisir®, thirty-four years later
Keeping this adventure alive for more than thirty years is a real challenge. In 2023, the momentum has not lost steam. The notebook is full! The youngest host, Tom, is celebrating his 13th birthday, the “elders” Henri and Hubert proudly display their 80th birthday and between them have totaled thirty-three participations without interruption since the beginning. The desire to share, the passion are still there. This unconditional commitment is the driving force behind the “Sentiers Plaisir”® and reassures tourism stakeholders in the Bruche valley in their choice to anchor residents at the heart of the tourist offering. What could still be improved? That hosts should appreciate even more the opportunity represented by this unique offer of its kind, in any case by its longevity, the simplicity of the concept and the commitment of the inhabitants. Many visitors come from far away to participate, others from the region return faithfully year after year to try a new outing or another theme. Everyone is unanimous about the pleasure they took in these simple and unpretentious encounters which are the spice of the trip...
Les Sentiers Plaisir® resonates with the tourism strategy of the La Bruche valley
Promoting eco-mobility has inevitably become a necessity and an obvious fact, especially since the Bruche valley is the only valley in Alsace served by a rail line.
Initiated at the end of the 2003s, the tourism development policy carried out jointly by elected officials and professionals in this area led, in particular, in 2018, well before the NOTRe law required it, to the creation of a tourist office for the Bruche valley. Several years of concerted actions have resulted in public and private achievements to enhance the tourism offering, the development of new services, the creation of activities and events, promotional and marketing actions. In 2028, the moment seems opportune to take a step back and take a look at the coherence of the action, its strengths and weaknesses and its fragilities. This “freeze frame” on the tourist positioning of the Bruche Valley “destination” is essential in a particularly competitive tourism market which is facing profound changes linked to the evolution of tourist consumption patterns, impact of climate change. Beyond just objective analysis, the challenge is to question the role of tourism stakeholders and, beyond all stakeholders in the territorial project, to mobilize all public and private stakeholders around a project. collective, a shared ambition. A few months of work later, accompanied by a specialized firm, we ended up with the definition of a tourism strategy for XNUMX, in four axes that the tourist office has completely adopted: making our valley a a car-free destination that makes soft mobility and “slow tourism” a priority, drawing on the roots of our history and reconnecting with humility with nature, maintaining and sharing the pride of belonging to this valley and cultivating together “the art of encounter” which gives meaning to travel, building a more agile and resilient tourism, capable of re-enchanting itself.
This roadmap has proven to be visionary in view of the upheavals and accelerations resulting from the global crisis of 2020. Even in our wildest dreams, we could not imagine how much the pandemic would disrupt, not only our lives, our economy, our way of working, but also our way of understanding the world, of living our social relationships and in particular, our way of traveling... The health crisis has accentuated a need for tourism of meaning and ethics, tourism which includes and involves all members of the tourism ecosystem. It made it possible to question as many people as possible about their relationship to others, to the territory visited, to life, to the economy and to travel. By highlighting our vulnerability and stopping the frantic pace of the global economy, humanity became aware of its intrinsic values and wanted to return to essential values, simple values, exchange values and of shares. The development of short circuits in particular, and local tourism demonstrate this reality. The need to return to values, to our history and to our roots is also seen through the surge in heritage tourism. The search for authenticity becomes a quest for the traveler. He wants real things, real people and real local stories. He seeks meetings with the inhabitants, fully confirming Alexandra David Néel: a great traveler, the first European woman to go to the forbidden city of Lhasa, in Tibet. : “To travel without meeting the other is not to travel, it is to move.”
Editorial: ANNE-CATHERINE OSTERTAG / Director of the tourist office of the community of communes of the Vallée de la Bruche • REVUE SPACES • May-June 2023 •
Photo/graphics credits: © OTVB / Stéphane SPACH • atelierfika.fr