With the new reorganization of the regions, Occitania has a coastline that extends from Port Camargue in the North to Cerbère near the Spanish border in the South. In addition to these 220 km of coastline, there are 240 km of the Canal du Midi and the Canal du Rhône à Sète. In this region, there are 40,000 boaters with a ring in all the ports.
The Occitania region, associated with the Parliament of the Sea and the Union of Port Cities of Occitania (UVPO), is seeking to integrate marinas into a tourism development dynamic: to make all the actors aware that the port is not a simple place to park one's boat in which one can find services that are solely oriented towards water sports. The port must be considered as a gateway to tourism.
5 axes to develop tourism
The approach implemented aims to present the port as a tourist stopover, an opening towards the land. To do this, the Pass'Découvertes works on 5 axes:
- The nautical stopover
- Culture and heritage stopover
- Flavors and gastronomy stopover
- The nature and discovery stopover
- The sport and well-being stopover
- The stopover walks and itineraries
The Pass'Découvertes is accessible to all for free
The Pass'Découvertes is a brochure that can be found in the harbour master's offices, which indicates to boaters the different activities available at the port of call in one or more of these 5 areas. The more connected can also download a free application (IOS or Android) on their smartphone and find all the information.
Information and gifts at each stopover
This brochure describes all the ports of call in the region, as well as the advantages that can be found there for Pass'Découvertes processors. This Pass' is free. All you have to do is register at your harbor master's office for residents of the port or at the harbor master's office of the incoming port for visiting boats. Then, you register your Pass' at each port of call, to validate the number of miles you have sailed. It is this total number of miles that will entitle you to discounts or even free nights in the ports.
The port: gateway to the region
The objective of this device is to encourage boaters to sail in their region and to circulate from port to port to discover the tourist wealth of Occitania. The port is no longer simply a place of accommodation, but becomes a gateway to the territory, the cornerstone of a tourism strategy. The ports are thus opening up to the economy to add a new string to their services. Implemented last season in a test phase, the Pass'Découvertes is now mature in terms of the diversity of offers.
"The port of the 21st century must embark on the reconquest of its territory by displaying a strong economic identity," says Serge Pallares, president of the Union of Port Cities of Occitania. "The Pass'Découvertes is there to help them open up!"
