Porquerolles, heart of the park

From Avignon, Jérôme Vian, holder of a BTS in tourism "reinforced by a year in art history" admits a particular sensitivity to old stones. And for good reason: "I spent my childhood in the Chartreuse de Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, a listed 12th century monument. With my friends, we used to play in the chapels, the cloisters, the old cellars... And we always met visitors. These are my first memories: Germans, Italians, Spaniards who asked for directions. The choice of tourism is perhaps not a coincidence..

"It's true that hospitality was part of the house: my family hosted the actors of the Avignon Festival. My grandmother washed Gérard Philipe's clothes! Nature? "I did my service in the Alpine hunters, for a year I hiked in the Ecrins, the Vanoise, the Ubaye... and then I got my first job as a guide in the Camargue Regional Nature Park".

After a ten-year break to join the family business in the olive oil trade, he returned to his profession when he arrived in Hyères nine years ago. He then joined L'Echappée Bleue "where my experience in the Camargue helped to develop visits to the salt marshes".

About the brand, he says he felt immediately invested: "By raising awareness among visitors during outings, I hope they will carry the message. I feel useful, I fulfill my mission.

The meeting with Magali Artèche took place at the end of September, just as the "Summer Wednesdays" were coming to an end. This ambitious program of guided tours, all of which are certified as National Park Spirit, has given summer visitors to the Port-Cros National Park access to places that are usually closed to the public, and has allowed them to discover an exceptional environment.

Many years of working in partnership, a common emulation, constant exchanges have led to this quality relationship between the Port-Cros National Park and L'Echappée Bleue Evénementiel.

Magali Artèche, director of L'Echappée Bleue Evénementiel, tells us about her career and her commitment to environmental awareness.

Magali is a child of the Camargue. A graduate of EDHEC Lille, she began her career with an oil company, in charge of renovating a network of service stations. In this case, the emphasis is on the safety of goods, people and the environment. This was her first foray into ecology and sustainable development: a seed had germinated.

As the years went by, Magali specialized, still within this oil group, in training.

In 2003, Magali's husband develops a diving activity in Porquerolles. She then had the chance to discover the island as a resident and diver. For 12 years, Magali will live half the week in Porquerolles, and the other half in Paris. In 2015, this hectic pace is running out of steam, especially since she is tired of feeling like a tourist in her place of life!

L'Echappée Bleue, an event organization agency that has been in existence since 1986, will be the opportunity that will allow her to change her life. As things must make sense, she establishes a coherence between her training profession and this new direction: until now she worked on the content of seminars; with L'Echappée Bleue Evénementiel, she will find these same clients and will offer them other services.

This is how the agency, which has sustainable tourism in its DNA, will, under Magali's impetus, make sure to offer ever more eco-responsible events. However, the team-building activities, built to measure, take place in the heart of a national park, which is not always immediately understood by the clients. Magali has an amusing memory of an event organized for a renowned Parisian agency, used to grandiose and exuberant parties. During the setting up of the file, after having refused several requests from her client because they were impossible to realize in Porquerolles, Magali had to compose: "I say no to everything, I feel that there is a great frustration on your part, whereas you have the chance to organize a seminar in Porquerolles". The client admitted that she was beginning to doubt the relevance of this location. Wishing to highlight the incredible place that is Porquerolles, Magali will convince her:

There are indeed constraints to choosing Porquerolles, but they have a reason to be: you are in a National Park, with a botanical conservatory, species that nest only in Porquerolles. If you wish, we will take advantage of this seminar to make you discover this.

This event will be a real success in the natural and simple discovery of the island.

If Magali were to become the ambassador ofEsprit Parc National to professionals, she would emphasize that "certification allows us to question our practices, it leads to optimize some of our processes and costs. The process to obtain certification is already interesting for that

For tourism on Porquerolles, it seems essential to Magali to educate to the preservation of the environment. Magali believes that Esprit Parc National can transform tourism in Porquerolles: a certain number of service providers are already certified, and many activities are already regulated. Esprit parc national can be a real lever to transform tourism on the islands in a sustainable way.