Like most winter sports resorts, Chalmazel also wants to establish itself in summer as a holiday destination. The town and the department have invested and many activities are offered there. This is a major issue in this area of the Loire far from employment areas.
Even in the middle of an interview with our teams, Valéry Gouttefarde, SE Mayor of Chalmazel-Jeansagnière, pauses for a few minutes to play tourist guides with people passing through his village and direct them to the most beautiful sites in the area. They should not go their way without stopping.
The town experienced a difficult period in 2017. The main traders had reached retirement age and were preparing to go out of business. Fortunately, the bakery, the grocery store and the tobacco bar have found buyers. “These are individuals who have taken over, it is safer and more sustainable than when the town hall does it.” The mayor looks confident and, for his part, has committed public funds to renovating the center to make passing people “want to stop”. And it works.
“The tourists are there but until recently they told us that” there was not much to do “admits Frédéric Gravier, the manager of the resort. Fortunately things are changing and the summer leisure offer is growing. developed.
The winter sports resort must exist in summer, it is a question of survival for the entire population pool.
The departmental council, owner of the ski resort, approved in assembly in October 2020, the concept of “sustainable four-season resort” at ten years and endowed phase 1 of the project with a budget of 10 M € excluding tax. In winter, the station brings in between 700,000 and 1 million euros. Summer is less than 20,000 euros. It is clear for Frédéric Gravier, director of the ski resort, that the summer whatever one says about it will never catch up with the winter (up to 100 people work at the station) but the potential is there and with the warming climate and snow shortages, it is impossible to ignore these new investments.
Thus Christophe Parois, historic manager of the ski rental store, invested 4 years ago in electric bicycles and scooters. He can rent up to 40 during the day. For him, it is necessary “to innovate in the products of appeal 4 seasons so that people can have a good day or even several and that one can develop”.
Many opinions point in this direction. The chairlift has thus been renovated so that it can drop tourists off at the top in both summer and winter. A project around the sledge running summer and winter is underway.
In the meantime, new activities have emerged such as archery, mini-golf, orienteering, trial, via ferrata, tree climbing … So many additional activities on the circuits of hike to entertain surrounding families.
When it comes to families and holidaymakers who come from further afield, one problem remains: accommodation. According to studies, 400 beds on the heights of Forez are lacking to make Chalmazel and its surroundings a real tourist destination. In terms of catering, infrastructure is also lacking. Tour operators still shun the Forez for lack of access to a restaurant capable of accommodating an entire coach in a single service. The town is renovating a building into a gourmet restaurant before putting it into management.
The local consumer card
The Covid is an unexpected tourist ally. The need to escape, not too far from home due to geographic constraints linked to confinement, the desire to avoid overcrowded places, the desire for nature, have led Ligériens (and others) to take an interest in what was offered near them. Local consumption is no longer confined to our plate. Bringing structures to life close to home so that they last is also a will that the French have adopted. And even if the Alpins describe the Foréziens reliefs as cow mountains, to see the numbers increasing over the years, holidaymakers seem to appreciate their accessibility. The last bank holiday weekends have provided proof of this.
There is still a lot of work to do but all seem to be working in the same direction.
