At the end of the year, the Savoie Mont Blanc tourism agency will be liquidated. This flagship of tourism promotion will be replaced, in Savoie, by the departmental tourism committee.
But not until next summer.
> The creation of the Savoie departmental tourist committee (CDT) has been underway since the vote of the departmental assembly on September 27. It will be chaired by Vincent Rolland, deputy for the 2nd constituency of Savoie, but also former co-president of the Savoie Mont Blanc agency, from which he resigned in March 2024. My decision was taken against a backdrop of deep disagreements with the management of the Haut-Savoyard executive, both on governance and on marketing objectives. A rapprochement was unfortunately impossible », recalls Vincent Rolland.
The MP would like to point out that departmental elected officials will now be able to sit as president of the CDT, which was not desired by the Upper Savoyard part of Savoie Mont Blanc tourism. The latter has been managed since June 18 by an administrator appointed by the prosecutor, following an alert procedure by the auditor. The liquidation should be pronounced by the end of 2025. “ When we think that in 18 years of existence, a total of 160 million euros of public funds have been invested in this bi-departmental agency, it hurts, reacts the Savoyard deputy. But we must look ahead and this new organization will allow greater flexibility and efficiency in the service of the remarkable local brands and Savoyard destinations that it was inconceivable not to support in visibility and promotion. »
A new office
A few weeks ago, the constitutive general assembly, made up of eight representatives of the Savoie departmental council, elected the first office of the CDT. Violaine Villette, president of Savoie Mont Blanc Juniors, will therefore be vice-president of the CDT, surrounded by François Moiroud, mayor of Yenne, Alain Etievent, 1is deputy mayor of Allues, Erich Debrueres, president of Udotsi 73, and Nathalie Furbeyre, departmental councilor of the canton of Modane. The governance of this new association could be supplemented by fourteen directors' seats, open to representatives of different socio-professional sectors, to consular chambers, as well as to local authorities. The departmental tourist committee will be financed mainly by the Department of Savoie, “ for a substantial amount which will be around 5 million euros », specifies Vincent Rolland.
Adjustment phase
« There are still some adjustments to be made with the administrator, concerning thematic commissions, the resumption of 19 employees from the old structure out of the 35 it included, and the bases of our action », says, half-heartedly, the president of the CDT of Savoie. It is difficult to project a date for the Savoie departmental tourist committee to take action, but the administrative formalities should be concluded in the spring of 2025, and the first would begin in the summer, so that the CDT is fully operational for the winter season 2025-2026.
