2023-08-15 05:11:39
Caught between the desire to develop tourism and the need to preserve an accessible habitat, Wallonia had to legislate to regulate the supply of lodgings. Reporting.
When we walk the streets of Séchery, a few pastures from Redu, there is a dead calm. The heat is blazing, the sound of crickets fills the whole space.
We are at the end of June, the tourist season is not yet in full swing. But it won’t be long… We come across one or the other large SUV speeding up the road that winds between stone houses with closed shutters. One foot in front of the other, we push to the bottom of the hamlet. Before our eyes unfolds an old farmhouse transformed into a large capacity gîte: the Sech’ry. A long stone swimming pool borders the road. On the panoramic terrace, regarding fifteen people are chatting over a drink. Casual suits, elegant dresses and high heels. A corporate event, no doubt.
We take a look at the information board plastered on the walls of the gîte: an area of 1,700 m² houses twenty rooms for a capacity of 60 peopleall in a setting combining the rustic style of local stone with the modernist style of white furniture. Classy, very classy.
©Valentin Bianchi / Hans Lucas
We go up the street. At the entrance to the hamlet, an old lady calls out her little dog. We approach it. How is the cohabitation with the tourists? She invites us to cool down, places a glass of water on her flowery plastic tablecloth, and launches out. Half FIG half grape. In Séchery, a good part of the houses are gîtes, or second residences. “There are only 30 inhabitants left for 25 houses”, says Marguerite*. “Some of the gites go up to 15 people, during covid it was difficult. They bring nothing to the region, they come with all their food. People still try to be respectful, where I am located, I am not bothered by noise. However, their Porsches hurtle down the street at full speed, they believe they are on a racing circuit. We can’t put speed bumps, it would interfere with the tractors.”
“I consider my village as a garden. If we want it to remain beautiful, but to develop with great diversity, we have to maintain it. And make choices…”
In Lesse, a shopkeeper from Redu tells us, it’s even worse: 40 houses, 5 inhabitants. The villages are emptying, the young people of the area no longer know how to buy, she describes tourism as disrespectful… We push open the door of Le Fournil, one of the restaurants in the village. The establishment is rubbing its hands once morest the massive influx of tourists. SO, the boss moderates the comments of the locals. “Gîtes, it’s true that it complicates access to property”, says Jonathan Binsfeld. “90% of the tenants of large lodgings are Dutch-speaking. But they are there every weekendthey eat at least one or two meals at the restaurant, they have high purchasing powerthey are good customers.”
Since January, permit required
If we landed in Séchery, it was on the advice of the mayor of Libin, Anne Laffut. Last year, with some other Ardennes colleagues, she put pressure on the Walloon government so that arrangements can be made for better equip the municipalities in the face of the proliferation of large-capacity lodgings. Since January 2023, it is now mandatory to apply for a planning permit to create tourist accommodation in an existing building, except for lodgings with less than six rooms located within the accommodation of the inhabitant.
Anne Laffut is delighted. “I always felt frustrated that I had no control over the development of lodges. If nothing had been done, we would have quickly risen to 50% of accommodation of this type in the town. I consider my village as a garden. If we want it to remain beautiful, but to develop with great diversity, we have to maintain it. And make choices…”
The large lodgings therefore, the municipalities do not want too much. “As a liberal, I defend entrepreneurship. For our artisans, our merchants, it is important to have tourism. But we have to find a balance between quality of life and economy. We have already refused accommodation in certain places, we sometimes have complaints regarding noise pollution, and we have to find solutions. The main problem with large lodges is more their location than their size.“
©Valentin Bianchi / Hans Lucas
The mayor returns to the Sech’ry, a project whose quality she congratulates. “Located in the listed hamlet, the building has been renovated respecting the original locations. It caused transport problems, and neighborhood problems at the beginning. But they put asoundproofing in place.”
In Libin, what also worries the mayor is water management. When the 65 lodgings are occupied, this causes a 20% increase in the population, or nearly 1,000 people in addition to the 5,400 inhabitants. “Water consumption increases by 30%. However, the municipality is supplied with water by the groundwater, so in the event of drought, we must quickly put in place restrictions, buy water from the SWDE. This costs the municipality 170,000 euros each year.
Anne Laffut admits: the influx of tourists is rather a novelty in Libin. Must therefore s’adapter. In addition to the limitation of lodgings, the mayor is also thinking of revising upwards the tourist tax for tourist accommodation, ridiculously low (30 euros / year / person accommodated).
In La Roche, a century-old tradition of hospitality
We get back in the car, direction La Roche-en-Ardenne. Where tourism has been in full swing since the beginning of the last century. The tradition of hospitality, we know. But its mayor also pleaded for measures to be taken.
In the Ourthe valley, like the Haute Ardenne, the pressure has increased sharply following the health crisis. Durbuy, Somme-Leuze, Rendeux, Stoumont, Waimes, La Roche, concentrate the highest densities of accommodation rented through platforms such as Airbnb.
In 2022, 71% of the 19,000 properties rented on the platforms were entire homes and the aforementioned municipalities had a rate higher than one tourist bed for two inhabitants, we learn from a report by the Permanent Conference on Territorial Development (CPDT).
©Valentin Bianchi / Hans Lucas
The listed lodgings are less numerous: there are 2,500 authorized lodgings, tells us the cabinet of Valérie De Bue, in charge of tourism. This is twice as much as just 10 years ago. “Not to mention all the dwellings and second residences which are not declared”, launches the mayor of La Roche, Guy Gilloteaux. “It’s hard to control.”
In its study published at the end of June, the CPDT puts its finger on certain problems: “The flow of tourists generated worries the inhabitants, we read there. The massive development of lodgings would cause a loss of authenticity of the villages, the gradual disappearance of the inhabitants, the difficulty for them to access property.”
The covid effect
In La Roche, the lodgings have indeed multiplied like hot cakes following the covid crisis, testifies the mayor: in 2019 the town had 135 lodgings, in 2022 there are a total of 176. “There was a rush of people from the cities to buy second homes. Then international tourism picked up, and these people wondered what to do with their property. The gîtes were going well, they got started.“
They multiply like hot cakes, in the center of La Roche as in the surrounding villages. In rue Clèrue, on the banks of the Ourthe, one in two houses is a gite. In the middle lodges Claude Frisson, one of the irreducible Rochois who refuses to sell to investors. “I want the house to stay in the family, my children agree. My cousins, who lived next door, sold.”
The man testifies to the bygone past: “Before, when I was a child, there were 33 hotels in the center of La Roche. The lodges have replaced everything. Well, tourists are the livelihood of Rochois, but when they are there, it multiplies the population by four. And some don’t respect anything, believing they are allowed everything because they pay. 80% of investors are Flemish. For the people here, everything has become too expensive.”
©Valentin Bianchi / Hans Lucas
Anticipating the upcoming legislation, the mayor of La Roche has put a moratorium on lodgings of more than 5-6 people with no manager within ten kilometers, just to avoid windfall effects. “By being nearby, the owner can intervene to avoid nuisanceand we also want the heritage to remain partly in the hands of the Ardennes.”
“Every time a house is sold, it’s to invest. (…) We live off tourism, but we also need the inhabitants. (…) We have to reserve the building land for the household installation.”
The mayors of La Roche and Rendeux, however, deny being anti-Flemish. “We have more and more residents from the north of the country, we have to respect them. But the Flemish owners remain in the minority. We don’t only have Coucke”, he says, denying the words of his villager. But he concedes “that there are sometimes tensions, aggressiveness towards the Flemings. This is rising more and more, but we have to share our territory, the sector is a big source of income for the municipalityboth direct and indirect.
The myth of a colonized Wallonia
For the cabinet of Minister de Bue, this image of Wallonia bought by Flanders remains a myth. “No one has reliable statistics. There is a strong resurgence of investors for the Ardennes and Luxembourg, but it is not exclusively of Flemish origin. And in any case, the origin matters less than the quality of the projects, they help create jobsprofessionalize the sector and personalize the reception of Dutch-speaking customers who spend more than the others”, insists the firm.
So the mayors have to find solutions to facilitate cohabitation. At La Roche, the owners have imposed astronomical deposits, ranging up to 2,000 euros, subject to compliance with noise and neighborhood standards. “But 2,000 euros, when you are 50 people, that’s barely 40 euros each. It’s not expensive to pay to party, says Guy Gilloteaux. So we are considering heavier penalties. We must improve our regulatory texts to be able to close the lodgings if they do not respect the police regulations.
In Rendeux, Cédric Lerusse seems a little less… conciliatory. “Every time a house is sold,” he laments, it’s to invest. “Marcourt, Marcouret, Jupille, these are villages that are dying. We live from tourism, but we also need locals. The authentic side will be lost if we become a dormitory city. Building land must be reserved for the installation of households”.
3 questions to Frank Descamps (Wild Trails)
The Wild Trails company, founded by Frank Descamps, a native of the north of the country who has lived in the Ardennes since the beginning of the 90s, manages eight lodges whose capacity varies from 10 to 90 beds, on La Roche and Rendeux.
When deciding to invest in the Ardennes, what was the concept?
We decided to aim for quality, not mass tourism. We rely on respect for nature: with us, it is the village that counts first, not the customer. Moreover, I am reachable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for neighbors. If there is a problem, they can call me, me or a colleague on duty, we are there permanently.
In our project, we renovated the buildings while respecting their history, and that of the families to which they belonged. The name of each gîte refers to it: Jeanne de Jupille, little Clément, the gamekeeper, the Grange Nicolas. Nicolas’ son is proud that his family’s history has been preserved. And we offer more than a cottage, there is a service around: catering, meeting, hotel service and organization of outdoor activities.
How do you deal with any inconveniences?
You have to earn the respect of the Ardennes. In 26 years, I had to fire 3 or 4 bands. With experience, we limit by putting filters on the reservation request. If we are told a weekend between bachelors, a bachelorette party, we refuse. We also refuse projects that do not correspond to our philosophy. I’d rather be empty than have pain in the ass. Last year, I fired 31 Dutch people. We have zero tolerance for nuisance. There is a way to party without disturbing the neighbors, each gîte has a soundproof and ventilated cellar for this purpose.
Do you understand the need for mayors to limit large capacity lodgings such as yours?
Yes. Everyone thinks it’s easy to rent a gite, but it’s a real job. I think this legislation will limit the problems. There are too many low quality gites that attract riskier clientele. I also think that if the owner is not on site, it is guaranteed to have problems. I live here, and we do a check-up every morning, and every evening, to see if everything is going well.
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