The Old Lyon district is regularly the victim of overtourism during the summer period. The inhabitants of the traboules pay the price daily. Frédéric Auria, president of the “renaissance du Vieux-Lyon” association, presented some solutions at the microphone of BFM Lyon.
“We fought to develop tourism and make this area attractive, even though it wasn’t at all attractive until the 1960s or even the 1980s,” said Frédéric Auria, president of the “Renaissance du Vieux-Lyon” association on 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 contracted with the city and in reality, “two are real traboules in Old Lyon”, he assured. Thus, there is an “overcrowding in these specific places”. No count at the entrance to the traboules, but sometimes “thousands of people” each 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 nuisance. “When there are large groups, the problem is the crowding and the continuous noise, especially with treasure hunts or bachelor parties, which makes it difficult to live with. also waste,” argued 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 put in place this week to regulate tourist flows in Old Lyon. First measure on the table, the opening of more traboules so that “people do not rush to the two or three that pose a problem”. Thus, one will open for next season and two for the season after on rue Saint-Jean. “We hope that this will help reduce the pressure,” declared the president of the association.
Another solution is a postcard distributed by the mediators to remind people where the private areas are located and advice such as being quiet 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.
