Tourism improvement on Eguzon reservoir (France)
Résumé
Eguzon reservoir, built in the 1920s as the greatest dam in France, submerged a portion of the Creuse Valley and shocked population and famous artists who painted here the natural landscape. Later, the reservoir was accepted and became a pole for tourism, well equipped in the 1980s. At the present, tourism facilities have aged and the site needs new ideas for developing the country. That is why 200 quantitative questionnaires with tourists and 25 semi-structured interviews with officials and tourism professionals were conducted during six months of 2013 for producing a territorial assessment. The majority of the visitors come from the local region, the north of France and the northwest of Europe. They are satisfied with the cultural and yachting offerings and with hosting accommodations. But they are unsatisfied with commercial services, gastronomy and websites. They regard the reservoir as a natural lake, so that they decided to visit the region for the beautiful "natural" landscape and the possibility of water skiing. The tourists are willing to spend money above all for boating activities. Local officials deplore the lack of coordination between the municipalities and the joint associations. It would be opportune to make a better use of the regional gourmet products and to go new websites on line, for meeting expectations of tourists.