Know-how tourism: to discover companies

"So far, we went to Douai to see the belfry.Today, we are also going to visit the Renault factory and the national printing house ”welcomes Cécile Pierre, general business delegate and discovery.The association works to democratize this new type of complementary leisure that develops strongly: know-how tourism.After a well -deserved idleness, many tourists like to cultivate themselves by visiting the castle, the abbey or the museum located near their vacation place.From now on, they can also discover remarkable industrial sites and artisan workshops.According to business and discovery, no less than 15 million amateurs went to 2,000 companies in 2019 (30 % more than in 2013), including 21 % of foreign visitors, a figure that has doubled in four years.France is the leader in Europe for this new type of leisure whose potential is still largely under-exploited.In the flagship country of gastronomy and art of living, it is companies in the food sector that attract the most (37 % of visitors).Among these many SMEs which open their doors, we can cite land of salt, where visits on foot are organized around the saltworks of Guérande;the pepper workshop;The Olibo Olibo cooperative;The Cité du Chocolat Valrhona;The Calissons du Roy René, etc..Compulsory support for these feasts, producers of wines, beers and spirits arrive in second position of the most frequented sites (22 %).Maison Rémy Martin which offers a discovery by train to the site for the development of cognacs in the heart of the Merpins vines, the Benedictine Palace, the Taittinger Champagne, the byrrh cellar, the Calvados Christian Drouin: all these houses offer a pleasant way ofpenetrate the secrets of distillation while tasting a good vintage or a famous alcohol.But food and drinks alone do not summarize the hexagonal manufacturing heritage.Industry, energy and the environment rise in third place in the podium with 16 % of visits.Here, we stroll within immense and impressive buildings and works of art, such as the construction sites of the Atlantic of Saint-Nazaire, from which the largest cruise liners in the world come out;Airbus, European flagship of aeronautics;EDF energy production units: Rance's tide factory, Chinon and Cruas-Meysse nuclear power plants.In the latter, after a conference, the groups access the site and plunge behind the scenes of a power station.But we can also meet ETIs (intermediate -sized companies) like Buyer, the foundries of Sougland, Cristel.The industry is closely followed by crafts and crafts in terms of attendance (15 %).The emblematic institutions such as national furniture or the currency of Paris are in good place, but the glassware of Biot, the cutlery of Laguiole, the Cristalleries Saint-Louis or the Fouque Santons are a pool of unique know-how.We then find fashion and cosmetics (8 %).In the fashion and textile sector, formerly flourishing but hard hit by globalization, several workshops welcome lovers of clothing for clothing.The Bohin Manufacture, for example, is the only French manufacturer of needles and pins.The public can attend the birth of these small but essential objects.Let us also quote the 1083 jeans, the Saint-James, the International Aigle, the City of the Shoe or the Moutet weaving.On the perfumery and cosmetics side, direction the south at the Marius Fabre soap factory, one of the last to make an authentic Marseille soap according to a manufacturing process dating from the 17th century.And also the fragonard perfumery or the Occitane in Provence.

Experiential tourism

If EDF nuclear power plants or the Renault de Douai factory are part of the stars in these circuits, the vast majority (94 %) of visits takes place in very small businesses and SMEs.Only 6 % are ETIs and large groups.These companies represent a real cultural and historical heritage: almost half of them (45 %) is over 50 and over a quarter (26 %) has exceeded the century of existence.In addition to its educational character, this experiential tourism does not strike budgets: 35 % of the entries are free, and the others cost an average of 5.90 euros per person per person per person per person per person per person per person per person per person per person per person per person per person per person per person per person per person per person per person.This new way of better understanding companies is a vector of development for the territories where they are established.For the vacationer, it is a different experience, a way to understand the workings of a production line, to understand the techniques of an art crafts and to appreciate original know-how.

On the company side, opening their doors to the public has a triple advantage.First, 60 % of these visitors become loyal consumers and are permanently committed to the brand.It is also a profit center: 80 % of these companies have a shop, in which vacationers spend twice as much as in a conventional shop.Finally, these visits are also a way to enhance employees who welcome and guide tourists, and to present the professions of the future to the young people.Is there a robot portrait of the business tourist?No, according to Cécile Pierre, for whom these visits are of interest to everyone: "Young people, because there is not the intellectual side of the museum.Besides, teens are not bored at all, on the contrary.Active adults between 20 and 50 years old like to compare these sites with their own workplace.And seniors want to understand what has changed since their time.»»

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Locatourism at the heart of businesses

Know-how tourism is a real communication tool for companies that agree to welcome it.Company and discovery is the spearhead.This recognized association of general interest was born in 2012."We are a group of 7 operational people, with a college of partners who works a bit like a board of directors. Il comprend des ministères - Économie et Finances, Culture et Affaires Étrangères principalement - ; des fédérations professionnelles, comme le Medef ou l'Ania (Association nationale des industries alimentaires) ; des territoires, par exemple PACA, avec qui nous travaillons de longue date, et des entreprises telles qu'EDF ou la Parfumerie Fragonard, qui est la première en flux de visiteurs»» décrit Cécile Pierre.The association brings together 400 members, 80 % of which are companies and 20 % of tourism professionals (tourist offices, regional and departmental tourist committees).She recently won, in partnership with ADT Tourisme, the call for projects on know-how tourism launched by the DGE (Directorate General of Business).Fifteen professional federations, institutional tourism and five regions (Hauts-de-France, Grand Est, Paca, Normandie, Center-Val de Loire) will participate in this project intended to boost this kind of tourism with a budget dedicated to amillion euros.The primary and discovery mission is communication, with its website www.company and discourse.fr, social networks and the famous backpacker's guide entitled The business visit to France which lists 450 organizations and which also publishes regional guides: PACA (renamed South Region) and soon New Aquitaine (release in October)."We support companies with feasibility audits, studies, training. Jusqu'à la mise en œuvre de la visite avec des scénographes, des architectes et des muséographes»» ajoute Cécile Pierre.Almost all municipalities have a nearby factory or workshop, some of which are poorly known nuggets. Entreprise et Découverte a par exemple organisé à Graulhet dans le Tarn l'opération « Le cuir dans la peau»».For three days, around fifty mégisseries, tanneries, leather goods welcomed tourists curious to better understand the work of leather, an activity that has existed since prehistory.In Gardanne near Marseille, the tourist office initiated the Industes six years ago to enhance its substantial industrial heritage including the Alteo Alumina alumina factory, the Uniper thermal power station or the Yvon well-Morandat who sinks more than a kilometer deep. Après une année 2020 difficile pour cause de confinement, l'été 2021 devrait connaître un redémarrage de ce tourisme de savoir-faire, appuyé par la campagne de communication intitulée « La visite d'entreprise, l'autre tourisme»»."We are the opposite of mass tourism. La visite d'entreprise, c'est un locatourisme en petits groupes qui correspond aux changements provoqués par la crise sanitaire»» précise Cécile Pierre, qui annonce l'ouverture prochaine de quatre antennes régionales d'Entreprise et Découverte.With, in the long term, offices in all regions so that the general public can reconnect with its past and its industrial and artisanal present.

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This article is extracted from "T" The Revue de la Tribune N ° 5 - Voyages, L’esser is not so far - June 2021 - Discover the paper version

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