For this 32 e edition, the 2017 edition of the Blue Flag awards devotes 390 beaches (against 400 in 2016) and 102 marinas (against 98 in 2016), spread over 173 municipalities.
The Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region is the first Pavillon Bleu region with 58 winners, followed closely by the Occitanie region with 53 winners. The Serre-Ponçon lake (2,800 hectares in area and 90 kilometres of shoreline), comfortably situated between Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Hautes-Alpes, is the largest hydroelectric dam in France (the second largest in Europe). And he also benefits from the label since 9 beaches have been labelled on 7 communes.
The trend concerning the continental communes is confirmed, there are 59 this year and represent nearly 1/3 of the labelled communes. This year 14 new municipalities and 8 new ports have been added to the list:
The new joint candidates
- Saint-Vincent-les-Forts (04),
- Mandelieu-La-Napoule (06),
- Ajaccio (2A),
- Arnay-Le-Duc (21),
- Vias (34),
- Iffendic (35),
- Eguzon-Chantôme (36),
- Seignosse (40),
- Saint-Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu (44),
- Coudeville-sur-Mer (50),
- Saint-Pair-sur-Mer (50),
- Fécamp (76),
- Saint-Jouin-Bruneval (76),
- Saint-Valéry-en-Caux (76)
The new port candidates
- Cap d'Ail marina (06),
- Port Départemental de Cassis GTC (13),
- Société Nautique de Marseille (13),
- Port de Gâvres (56),
- Port de Guidel (56),
- Port of Lorient Centre (56),
- Kernével marina (56),
- Port-Louis (56)
What does the Blue Flag label guarantee?
"According to 8 out of 10 French people, the Blue Flag is a guarantee of clean beaches and water quality. 81% of French people could choose their holiday location according to the Blue Flag These data come from a BVA survey for the Blue Flag, conducted by Internet from August 22 to 23, 2016.
The municipalities that obtain the Blue Flag have fulfilled two types of criteria: the essential criteria (minimum required to obtain the Blue Flag) and the guiding criteria (which may eventually become imperative).
The Blue Flag criteria are grouped into 4 main families
- criteria related to environmental education,
- criteria related to water management,
- criteria related to waste management,
- criteria related to the general environment.
