6533b824fe1ef96bd127ff5d

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Autoroutes et dynamique du tourisme

subject

description

The widening of the motorway network in France, during the nineties, gives the opportunity to analyze the relationships between accessibility and tourism. The A 39 skirts the foothills of the Jura and improve its accessibility although it does not penetrate into the mountains. From this example, we wished to evaluate the impact of such an infrastructure on the tourism activity in the Jura. The adopted method involves following the development of tourism starting from multiple sources provided by national statistics, traffic surveys carried out before and after the opening of the A 39, and the interviews of the people in charge for tourism in the Jura. The interest of these investigations is also to measure the degree to which the distance from the motorway structures the development of tourism. Since the opening of the A 39 in 1998, visitor numbers have not increased, so the element "transport" doesn't stimulate visits. Even if it does not guarantee development, the motorway opens up possibilities because it is a tool of communication. It can also influence the decision of tourists to pass through the Jura wine-growing area or to encourage visits by locals to the ski resorts of the Jura. Of course, this is only one element among a chain of factors which condition the visitor numbers ; among those, the weather conditions and the support for local development are just as fundamental as accessibility.