To preserve the Calanques, Marseille will introduce a “visit permit”

Marseille and its Calanques make you dream? Know that you will soon need to book online to access one of them, the Calanque de Sugiton. A “visit permit” will be tested at this site, which is threatened by erosion, to protect it from seasonal overcrowding. A first for a national park.

With its turquoise waters and two small pebble beaches, the Calanque de Sugiton is the dream of tourists from all over the world. According to the Calanques National Park in Marseille, the number of visitors can reach 1,500 people per day in summer. To combat this overcrowding, a “visit permit” will soon be tested to access the site, reports 20 minutes.

This initiative is the realization of a hypothesis considered in early 2020 by the Marseille National Park, concerned about persistent overpopulation. Nestled in the heart of the site, the Calanque de Sugiton is particularly vulnerable and has been threatened for several years: “There’s a real problem of erosion in this place, which has a little bit of soil, not just rock, and where the pines are mostly at risk of swaying. (…) If we did nothing, we risked losing this landscape completely”, explained to theMedia agency France a spokesperson for the park, who provided the first information from the daily . confirms Provence.

This regulation of access to Sugiton was also prompted by the high fire risk in this area and the nature of the “rejuvenation and rest” place, “which was no longer guaranteed at all”, explains the park. In addition, the lack of visibility in summer leads some hikers to take passages other than the marked, “which had a disastrous effect on the vegetation”.

Limit attendance to 300 people per day

Specifically, people who want to visit the Calanque de Sugiton between July 15 and August 15, ” at least “, will have to reserve their place online. The operation is free and is performed on a dedicated platform. According to the French Biodiversity Agency, polled by AFP, this “reservation” is a first in France for a national park.

Thanks to this device, the national park would like to limit “200 to 300 people maximum per day” the number of visitors. The measure must be tested from the weekends of May or June and a communication campaign is planned for March. Checks of “visit permits” will also be performed at two access points to the creek, as well as: “at the bottom of the bay”, specifies the park.

Since opening up in the spring of 2020, the Calanques National Park has been trying to combat overpopulation with various measures, such as the ban on unauthorized access by car or ships. This new “permit” reinforces the park’s policy of preserving these fragile natural landscapes.

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