A season reinvented in Chartres
At the Chartres tourist office, despite a preparation truncated by the Covid-19, new products will emerge for this summer season. “We tried to learn from the previous summer”, assures Philippe Rossat, director of C’Chartres Tourisme, a local public company (SPL) of Chartres Métropole.
“We had to reinvent our software. With these words, the president of the Chartres tourist office speaks of the clientele. If each year, a “big third” of tourists come from abroad, this season will necessarily be different.
“We had to think of events made for a more Ile-de-France audience. He will try to have a good time. To clear the mind. “
Philippe Rossat
(director of the Chartres metropolis tourist office)
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Despite everything, the president of the tourist office does not see a real problem. “Paradoxically, the summer of 2020 was a great success. The animations too. “
Between bike rides and surveys to (re) discover the city
And as for the rest of the tourist offices of Eure-et-Loir, outdoor entertainment will be privileged. Including those that worked well last year. Including bike rides with electric assistance. “We are going to offer a few short cycle routes between Chartres and the partner municipalities. It is a great satisfaction. »A bicycle park increased by the success of this means of transport. And a price: € 30 for a rental day and € 50 for the weekend.
Chartres en lumière could also take advantage of this fashion for electric bikes. “We plan to use them to organize visits that would allow you to discover all the scenographies in one evening”, cautiously mentions Anne-Marie Nouar, communication manager at the office.
The 18th edition of Chartres en lumière is launched: new scenographies in the lower town
This summer, tourists and Chartrains will have the opportunity to (re) discover the medieval city. The agents of the tourist office have been scaffolding for several weeks some small “inquiries”.
Intergenerational animations, of which the name of one of them is known: Frodo. In reference to the character of the literary saga The Lord of the Rings. “The start will be in front of the office. The objective of this animation will be to help Frodo find his plan which was to bring him to Santiago de Compostela. The investigation will take the children and their parents to several sites in the medieval city, ”describes Philippe Rossat.
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The office relies on its apprentices
More “inquiries” of this type will be arriving in the coming weeks. “But we can not say more”, smiles the president of the tourist office. Tests will be carried out during these Easter holidays.
In total, in terms of offers, more than forty ticket offices will be available on the website of the tourist office. “Customers will be able to build their experience as they see fit. Hoping that no entertainment will be canceled by then. “
To cope with this new summer season, the office did not wish to hire additional agents. “We have a lot of apprentices,” argues Philippe Rossat. “We are keen to give jobs to young people who come from the region. As for the seasonal workers, it is complicated for us to recruit them. As long as we don’t know more about the health situation. If the latter were to develop positively, the situation could change.
How guided tours adapt to the coronavirus in Chartres
Dreux promotes outdoor entertainment
At the Agglo du Pays de Dreux tourist office, we take things with philosophy. The agents of the structure are preparing the summer entertainment program, patiently waiting for better days and the decline in the virulence of Covid-19, perhaps from the month of May.
A single watchword: encourage outdoor visits. The summer events on Tuesday, which are eagerly awaited every summer, will be repeated. They had to be canceled last summer, much to the dismay of the Drouais.
Les Flambarts in Dreux victims of Covid-19
Eighteen events are scheduled, every Tuesday in July and August, at 3 and 7 p.m. Obviously, wearing a mask and social distancing will be mandatory.
Another expected appointment the Esti’Rando, which was the only event to have been spared from cascading cancellations in the summer of 2020, is already scheduled for Sunday, August 29.
Park and garden in June
A new meeting that smells of spring was to be organized, in June 2020, and had not been able to take place. Its launch has been set for June 4, 5 and 6, 2021. This meeting, entitled Park and Garden, will make it possible to offer twenty-five events in seventeen sites of the Agglo, public or private gardens. This could take place in Gilles’ garden of colors, that of the Anet media library or the Montulé arts house in Dreux, where an artist will initiate the art of paintings with adhesive tape.
In Senonches, Maxime Niobey, the director of the Perche forest tourism office is also trying to deal with health constraints. The nightlife in the forest at the end of January, the white hike, had to be canceled.
“We are working on other events with the summer in our sights. For example, the feast of ecotourism. We are also preparing storytelling walks for this summer, with great care. Night markets will also be organized. “
Maxime Niobey
(director of the Perche forest tourism office)
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In the meantime, the director underlines the explosion of green tourism and bicycle rentals, which took place in February, while it begins rather in April, the other years. “We had a big demand from secondary residents. “
At the Anet tourist information office, there are also a lot of requests for hiking tours, starting in February.
The City of Dreux begins the development of the Blaise and its banks
Events and news, in Châteaudun
The Châteaudun tourist office recognizes that it is “not easy” to prepare for the new tourist season. “Not all of our activities have been finalized,” admits the director, Nathalie Bezault. We do not know how the health situation, linked to the Covid-19 epidemic will evolve, but we will mainly offer outdoor activities, while respecting the health standards in force. “
The preparation for this new tourist season was “a little less difficult”.
“We have already experienced a year of coronavirus and we suspected that we were going to enter a form of 3rd wave. We started to work more upstream this time when we had done everything in June last year and we opted for activities that can be maintained depending on the health context. “
Nathalie Bezault
(director of the Châteaudun tourist office)
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Tasting workshops with winegrowers will be offered, for the first time, at a price of € 15 per person. “During discussions with the Vendôme tourist office, it was considered to set up a promotion operation on the scale of both destinations. We do not have a wine offering but we already offer Vendômois wines in our local produce shop, ”explains Nathalie Bezault.
Five dates are scheduled in Châteaudun on Friday, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. “This is the day that seemed most relevant to us and, so that the workshops can start on time, participants will be invited to come to the site. site from 5.30 pm Places will be limited to 15 people to respect the sanitary measures and guarantee the quality of the service The participants will remain seated during the workshop in order to respect the sanitary measures as well as possible. “
Tourism will be at the heart of the States General, in Châteaudun
Unusual heritage and cultural places
These tasting workshops will be organized in Châteaudun in the house rue Dodun (May 14), the gardens of the Hôtel-Dieu (June 25), the courtyard of the castle (August 20), the gardens of the Abbey of the Madeleine ( September 17) and in Saint-Denis-Lanneray in the garden of La Duchaylatière, designed by Jean-Pierre Coffe (July 23). “These are heritage and cultural places preferably unusual to allow a tourist discovery in addition to the wine discovery. The winegrower will present the Vendôme vineyard and its emblematic grape variety, Pineau d’Aunis, as well as the possibilities of food and wine pairings with an associated tasting of local products. A guide from the tourist office will present the location in which the workshop will take place. “
The garden of La Duchaylatière, in Lanneray, has reopened its doors
“Renewed” thematic guided tours are also scheduled every Tuesday in July and August, at 5.30 pm: Saint-Valérien church and Champdé cemetery (July 6), exhibition “Writings, from Antiquity to the present day »At the museum (July 13), discovery of the museum’s ornithology collection (July 20), Châteaudun in the 19th century (July 27), Châteaudun in the Middle Ages (August 3), Madeleine church (August 10), the beautiful houses of Châteaudun (August 17), Châteaudun along the streets (August 24), Château de La Touche-Hersant, in Lanneray (August 31).
Nogent-le-Rotrou relies heavily on Véloscénie
By integrating the shareholding of C’Chartres Tourisme, the capital of Perche is changing its tourism strategy. If all eyes were up to now turned towards the west and the heart of the Perche, whose center of gravity is located in the Orne, this is another strategy that is currently being implemented in the tourism policy of Perche Nogentais. “We are changing our minds”, confirms the president of the Cdc du Perche Harold Huwart (MR) who heads the tourist office and community trade which has just become a shareholder of the local public company C’Chartres Tourisme.
“We want to work more with Chartres, which is the gateway for Parisian and Ile-de-France tourists to our department. This involves upgrading our equipment and activities and connecting with the flow of tourists. “
Harold Huwart
(President of the Cdc du Perche)
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La Véloscénie, this cycling route that leaves from Paris to reach Mont-Saint-Michel, is a major provider. And all the more so with the health crisis which has already pushed a good number of them last season to want to get some fresh air during outdoor activities.
Harold Huwart explains: “The reopening of the Nogent campsite will therefore be available for this clientele with the development of 15 pitches for tents and the installation of 10 secure boxes for bicycles”.
A kiosk on Place Saint-Pol
This collaboration with the C’Chartres Tourism office also marks the entrance to the ticket office for monuments and facilities in Nogent on the booking platform of the operator in Chartres. Alongside the castle of Maintenon or the royal chapel of Dreux. All-inclusive packages such as three-day-two-night stays between Chartres and Nogent can be set up with themed tours, activities and entertainment.
Véloscénie, a major tourist tool
In order to welcome and inform visitors, the kiosk of the tourist and trade office which will be installed on Place Saint-Pol will be open seven days a week from 10 am to 5:30 pm Campsite customers should also benefit from privileged access to the nearby Aquaval complex.
Electrically assisted bicycle loops, carriage rides, cine cyclo events and a host of other events are also scheduled until the uncertainties of the moment on the health situation of the summer are resolved.
Claire Béguin, Frédérique Levent, Stéphane Marchand, Jéraud Mouchet
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