After the first participatory Forum on sustainable tourism, several working groups met to define the strategic focuses and concrete actions that will form part of the destination’s multi-year strategy.
The participants met to reflect on this strategy based on three types of visitors:
- Welcoming and supporting positive-impact leisure tourism (2 June 2021)
- Guaranteeing a responsible events industry and the legacy of professional encounters (3 June 2021).
- Structuring and stimulating local tourism (4 June 2021).
Key figures from the workshops
- 73 participants in 3 workshops.
- 25 participants in the leisure tourism workshop, 27 participants in the business tourism workshop and 21 participants in the local tourism workshop.
- 45 topics on which participants voted to express their interests and priorities for further work.
- 23 cards with proposals for action and initial solutions.
Review of the workshops
The workshops were organised into two parts:
Part 1
A time for discussion and group cohesion during a plenary session, which allowed the participants to present themselves and share a personal desire using photolanguage: “I dreamed of the future of tourism for Bordeaux Métropole…”
The workshop leaders then presented the main topics, and a summary was given of the forum on 7 May.
The participants were invited to vote (by a show of hands as a group) on the priority areas for action that emerged from the forum’s discussions.
They were asked to rank each of the topics as follows:
- Keep: things that are already underway and which should be strengthened
- Start: things to be launched
- Drop: things to put to one side (secondary issues)
Part 2
During the second part, the participants worked in groups of five people with a note taker. Each group chose two topics that had been identified as priority areas (keep or start) and filled in an action sheet which included:
- proposals for action
- solutions or systems
- sources of inspiration (at the level of Bordeaux Métropole, in tourism or outside tourism and the metropolitan area).
The main findings of the workshops
The first consultation workshops were an opportunity for the participants to express their desire to work together on this strategy despite the difficult health context. Their presence and commitment underline the open governance dynamic promoted by Bordeaux Metropole. The development of sustainable tourism is becoming a criterion for all in their reflections and tourism projects.
Several major themes emerged from these workshops:
Value and attractiveness of the destination
The participants shared a common desire to make Bordeaux Métropole a singular destination with a positive identity that is historical as well as contemporary and lively. Bordeaux Métropole must convey, preserve and enhance its image as a responsible destination through concrete proof in order to reinforce its already exemplary attractiveness and reputation.
Bordeaux Metropole, a destination for all to experience
Bordeaux Métropole must maintain and reinforce its quality of life and make the destination a welcoming and pleasant place to live, work and visit. Residents and visitors must be able to mutually benefit each other and contribute directly or indirectly to the development of the quality of life in the destination.
Professionalisation of tourism and the events industry
Tourism professionals expressed the need for training and tools to improve their practices for more sustainable tourism and events. Communication elements (labels, standards, etc.) and positive awareness-raising among clients (good practices) are considered important for socio-professional actors in order to enter a virtuous cycles (in connection with the destination’s values).
Unite and share to create cross-disciplinary cohesion
Cross-disciplinary topics concerning tourism, local life, mobility, consumption and inclusion were a source of unity for all the participants. These topics could be reinforced by public or private partnerships by promoting, for example, the sharing of good practices and tools as well as networking among actors and service providers to create unity.
Coordination and dissemination of offers
The wide range of the existing offer provides strong and unique added value for the territory. Some already take account of responsible tourism and events as a whole (economic, social and environmental aspects) and target both distant and local audiences. Work to improve, coordinate and disseminate these offers should allow a virtuous network (attracting and retaining visitors, inspiring and raising the quality of tourism actors) to be created throughout the destination.
The workshops strengthened this dynamic of making Bordeaux Métropole an innovative and increasingly sustainable destination.
