“The quality of care is absolutely crucial … professionals need you … It will take you by the hand tourists” … This wish formulated by Valérie Pécresse (LR), President of the Ile-region -France, will perhaps be realized. One hundred students spotted with their purple safety jackets, paid on the basis of an internship, will be made from this Sunday on thirty attractions in order to “give the image of a welcoming France. “This” Tourism Volunteers “will last until 31 December,
The partners are numerous: The Louvre, Paris airports, department stores of Paris, Montmartre, Fontainebleau, Provins, Versailles Auvers-sur-Oise, Saint-Denis … It would be a faultless if Paris had not launched the controversy on Friday, saying they were not informed of this initiative.
But this is only the beginning. One hundred young people are wearing reflective vest for the holidays. They should be thousand next spring. Meanwhile, Paris and the region will undoubtedly have pooled their forces. It is urgent since the attacks. In the first nine months of the year, despite the holding of Euro 2016, the region is a decrease of 14% of hotel nights occupied by international tourists. “We must make every effort to attract new visitors and retain those who want to return,” insists Valérie Pécresse.
A strange initiative by the city of Paris
The city of Paris was arrested Friday, the president of the Ile-de-France region Valérie Pécresse on its plans to deploy at Christmas “volunteer tourism”. “We have at no time been informed or coordinated the deployment of the volunteers in the Parisian public space,” wrote Jean-François Martin, assistant to the mayor of Paris in charge of tourism.
The elected recalls that Paris has already set up since July 2015 “volunteers of Paris’ youth in civic services whose objective is to perform a tourist reception on the main task of the capital sites.”It would appear somewhat strange that the Regional Council can deploy this new device on sites already squared by volunteers from Paris, without any form of articulation with the existing device,” insists Jean-François Martin, denouncing the passage “a serious problem of method “and” a strong questioning of the legitimacy and compatibility “of the regional system.
Nasrou Othman, vice president of tourism in the region, does not include: “This is a sterile controversy. All initiatives are good to take…”
Lola, 19, a student in a school of tourism, is aware of this issue. “We need to answer questions from visitors, guide them when they are lost. We also need to reassure the security and tell them that Paris is a beautiful city, and they should enjoy. “Lola will be based in Roissy – Charles de Gaulle. She speaks English, German, Korean and a little Chinese.
“The reception is a sector of excellence,” said during the training day of the young, a representative of the Paris airports. “With your purple safety vest, you will color our airports,” she was glad. “On arrival at Versailles, you will guide visitors to the castle. Can you help them to return to Paris, “Said an official practice of Versailles?
Tony Estanguet, ambassador of the Olympics in Paris has already set the challenges for the future: “In 2024, we will need 70,000 volunteers!”
