Publish at July 09 2018 Updated June 13 2022
Tourism doesn't stand still. Every month of the year, tens of millions of people travel to see what is beautiful elsewhere. Is the grass really greener in other places?
Their monuments are prettier, their stores nicer, the atmosphere is so much more unique... We forget about all the charming places where we live. With digital technology, travel is changing. Many alternative accommodation services to hotels and the like are enabling a more participatory tourism. What if this approach offered tourists as much as locals the chance to make a city their own...
In fact, a network of « greeters » is being developed in France and elsewhere. Yet the idea was not born in the Web 2.0 era, but in 1992 in a New York citizen. She wanted vacationers to get off the beaten path and see her Big Apple, that is, the places that touched her and those she felt on a daily basis. Today, there are 34 countries and more than 150 cities and regions that offer this type of service.
So these people are trained guides who take small groups (no more than six) and show them around their part of the country à from their interests, but they can also respond à requests from visitors. Generally, contact is made on a web platform that links these greeters with interested tourists.
For example, those who would like to survey Paris differently could go to this site which would put them in contact with one of the greeters registered. There will then be an email discussion between the individuals so that the vacationer can make requests, if’necessary. The appointment will then be made with the guide who will be able to offer them a personalized tour of the French capital, highlighting local places or businesses that are sometimes ignored by guided tours.
At first, this greeter fad didn't sit well with tourist offices, perceiving this free approach as unfair competition. This man from Poitiers tells moreover that relations were initially stormy. But this changed with time and changes in the administration, which saw a potential in these improvised guides. Especially since, as greeters from Rennes in this radio mission, they are not at all trained in tourist animation. Nor in heritage, for that matter. And that’s what makes this new type of tourism complementary to traditional guided tours where professional guides bring a layer of knowledge and possess the skills to lead larger groups.
So many French cities have followed suit. Whether it is Paris, Renne, Poitiers or Rouen, the contribution of greeters for a few years is seen as a great benefit, a personalized approach that pleases many tourists stimulated by these people passionate about the place where they live. Especially since each of them offers a different vision of the same place according to their interests and their age. While many of them are retired, there are also people in their thirties and twenties who offer tours. At times, as one of the greeters from Renne interviewed will recount, some friendships are formed between visitors and guides and are perpetuated with the Internet.
For regions, such as Vézère Périgord Noir, this fits squarely into the more digital strategy of tourism. In this case, there is also the gégration of géocaching that allows younger people to find « secret » spaces. Moreover, this participatory tourism feeds on digital technology. For example, the site Localbini is a European platform where individuals propose tourism experiences in different cities that are very different. This can range from a jog near the iconic places of Paris, a musical tour of Salzburg or a visit to the best places to drink beer or wine in Berlin. On the other hand, the difference in greeters approaches, tourists will have to pay a greater or lesser amount depending on what has been determined by the organizer.
Bref, if mass tourism does not happen overnight, it seems that the digital world makes the share more and more beautiful à that of participatory tourism. It certainly offers tours that are a little less educational, but deeply human, that allow both those from elsewhere and locals to learn about local charms.
Illustration : Marseille Provence Greeters DSC_0345 via photopin (license)
Références
Delon, Éric. « Les “greeters”, Or Le Tourisme Autrement. » Lesechos.fr. Last update: July 21, 2017. https://www.lesechos.fr/21/07/2017/LesEchosWeekEnd/00086-035-ECWE_les--greeters---ou-le-tourisme-autrement.htm.
Gaulin, Bruno. « Les Greeters, Des Visites Touristiques Insolites Et Personnalis;es. » France Bleu. Last update: March 20, 2018. https://www.francebleu.fr/emissions/la-vie-en-bleu/armorique/les-greeters-des-visites-touristiques-insolites-et-personnalisees.
« Participatory Tourism As An Alternative To Mass Tourism. » The Nest by Sitta. Last updated: April 19, 2018. http://lenid.sitta.fr/le-tourisme-participatif-comme-alternative-au-tourisme-de-masse/.
« Les Greeters - Un an Après. » Rouen.fr. Last updated in 2017. https://www.rouen.fr/initiative/2017/greeters-un-an-apres-0.
LocalBini. Accessed July 5, 2018. https://localbini.com/.
Paris Greeters. Consulted on July 5, 2018. https://greeters.paris/.
« Sortir De Sentiers Battus Avec Le Tourisme Participatif. » SudOuest.fr. Last update: June 14, 2018. https://www.sudouest.fr/2018/06/14/sortir-de-sentiers-battus-avec-le-tourisme-participatif-5144754-2265.php.
Speroni, Maurane. A stroll off the beaten track « Poitiers thanks to the greeters. » La Nouvelle République.fr. Last update: April 23, 2018. https://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/poitiers/une-balade-hors-des-sentiers-battus-a-poitiers-grace-aux-greeters.
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