The tensions between the departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie, which should lead to the liquidation of the Savoie Mont Blanc Agency, send a troubling message in view of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP) of the French Alps 2030, which must on the contrary bring together mountain stakeholders and its promoters.
Created in the early 2000s, the Savoie Mont Blanc agency is reaching the end of its journey. The departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie, their initiators, have just created two separate Departmental Tourism Committees (CDT), effectively returning to square one. They merged to form Savoie Mont Blanc Tourisme. This rapprochement had successfully developed the notoriety of the territories, in France and internationally. The employees contributed to the dynamics of this brand praised by all professional circles, from Annecy, Chambéry and Paris.
Initially, its aim was to promote tourism in destinations in the two departments through the Savoie Mont Blanc brand. Based on its results, its objective was then broadened to the promotion of local products, its know-how, its culture… peripheral to tourism. For several years, it has maintained a multi-sectoral cooperation approach focused on excellence, while responding to the challenges of positive transition as a lever for growth.
A considerable regional and national economic challenge
The economic weight of tourism in Savoie and Haute-Savoie remains considerable. With nearly 1.5 million tourist beds, its 59,000 salaried jobs represent 16% of total salaried employment in the private sector. Its annual attendance, around 70 million nights, including 61% in winter and 34% in summer, with two thirds of domestic customers and one third of international customers, generates an activity which represents 46% of the tourist wealth of the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region and 6% of national tourism wealth. Savoie is the most touristy department in France due to its wealth, again according to INSEE.
Priority to staff
However, last spring, the structure imploded, with the resignation of the entire governance and the legal procedure began immediately, with the appointment by the Annecy court of a judicial administrator. Its priority for the moment is to ensure the reclassification of the fifty employees in the former structure. Today, after the closure of the Paris office, the workforce only numbers around thirty employees. Haute-Savoie has announced that it has already found a director, Anne-Sophie Secondi. For Savoie, which hosted the headquarters of the Savoie Mont Blanc Agency, nothing filters through. The current priority of the judicial administrator is the reclassification of the remaining employees of the Agence Savoie Mont Blanc team. Then, it will be necessary to liquidate the assets and, beyond that, reestablish the cohesion of the departments in view of the JOPs of 2030.
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