The Vieux-Lyon district is regularly the victim of overtourism during the summer period. The inhabitants of the traboules pay the price every day. Frédéric Auria, president of the association “renaissance du Vieux-Lyon”, presented some solutions on BFM Lyon.
“We fought to develop tourism and make this district attractive when it was not at all until the 1960s or even 1980s,” said Frédéric Auria, president of the “renaissance du Vieux-” association. Lyon” this Friday June 28 on BFM Lyon.
Traboules are courtyards in buildings that are characteristic of Lyon. Some are open to the public thanks to agreements signed with the city.
But “there are not enough of them”, according to Frédéric Auria, to be accessible to tourists. Out of 600 traboules, 50 are under agreement with the city and in reality, “two are real traboules in Old Lyon”, he assured. Thus, there is “overcrowding in these specific locations”. No counting at the entrance to the traboules, but sometimes “thousands of people” every day, according to him.
“Insult or even attack”
Even if the traboules are approved by the city, they remain in the hands of the owners. “The public space is the street. As soon as you walk through a door, you are obviously in someone’s home, so all the traboules and courtyards are private areas.”
It is therefore impossible for residents to escape the nuisances. “When there are large groups, the problem is the congestion and the continuous noise, especially with treasure hunts or stag parties, which makes it difficult to live with. There is also the waste,” said Frédéric Auria.
And beyond that, “a real problem of behavior and incivility.” “People are stopped, they take four minutes to get home or when they make a remark, they are insulted or even attacked,” he denounced. He qualifies however by saying that this remains “very localized” in a few places.
Distribute tourist flows
Faced with this overtourism, a summer mediation system was therefore set up this week to regulate tourist flows in Old Lyon. The first measure on the table is the opening of more traboules so that “people do not rush to the two or three that are problematic”. Thus, one will open for next season and two for the following season on rue Saint-Jean. “We hope that this will help reduce the pressure”, declared the president of the association.
Another solution, a postcard distributed by the mediators to remind you where the private areas are located and advice such as being silent and not parking nearby.
The challenge is also to “better distribute” tourists, by taking them “somewhere other than Old Lyon”. A new city map is currently being designed. “There will be Old Lyon on one side and Croix Rousse on the other side to make people aware of the fact that there are not just two traboules in the entire city. We need to work on signage that can guide people and distribute the flow”, assures Frédéric Auria.
The real challenge, according to him, remains “educating people and making them aware of the fact that they have to be quiet and respectful,” he concludes.
