2024-09-23 13:30:19
En this Sunday in mid-September in Lacanau-Océan, most passers-by have swapped their swimming shorts and flip-flops for a pair of jeans and a big hooded sweatshirt. An important element, sunglasses, are still on the tip of their noses. Few people, apart from two or three adventurous people, want to get into the water: the vast majority prefer to walk along the edge of the ocean.
For a few weeks now, the summer excitement of the Gironde seaside resort has drastically run out of steam, with July and August residents returning to their daily lives. However, September is still a somewhat unusual period, with moments of calm and temporary increases in activity, mainly linked to the goodwill of the weather. “We’re lucky, because during the first two weeks, it wasn’t really great,” says Thierry, manager of the Pacific Island ready-to-wear store.
Closures
Like him, most of the seafront traders will be closing their doors until next spring, looking to catch their breath after a hectic summer period that accounts for most of their turnover. “It must be my 37e or 38e season so I’m used to it, smiles Thierry. But of course, after seven months of being open seven days a week, working between 10 and 12 hours a day… I always look forward to August coming, but I’m just as eager for it to end.
After several hectic months, Thierry will close his shop from November to April.
A. B.
A well-deserved rest that some like Johanna are not really going to take. In a few days, after the annual closure of her restaurant Obaiona, she will turn to event catering. So, she wants to enjoy the last moments with a different clientele than the one of the last months.
“It’s a much quieter time than summer. In August, people want everything, right away, they want to make the most of their only week of vacation. In September, the population changes, we have a public of regulars, retired elderly people or young families with young children.” Several vans with German and Dutch license plates suggest that elsewhere in Europe, September still rhymes with vacation. Knowing that foreigners (mainly from Germany, the United Kingdom and Belgium) make up 40% of the clientele coming to Lacanau.
Nine campsites
At the height of the summer season in 2023, the municipality of Lacanau (including the town, Ocean and Lake) reached 150,000 residents for only 5,572 permanent inhabitants. In total, just over 950,000 overnight stays, i.e. the number of nights spent in paid accommodation, were declared for the whole of 2023. Mainly via platforms such as Airbnb (276,000 overnight stays for 2,200 registered accommodations, with an average occupancy rate of 57% and rising to 88% in August) and thanks to the nine campsites, with their 10,000 beds. Inevitably, at the end of the season, several of these also closed, such as the Grands Pins campsite on September 15 and the Airotel Océan campsite on November 3.
“Tourism is the main economy of Lacanau, with the ocean and the beach as the main attractions, then come the lakes,” explains Nicolas Jabaudon, the general director of the Médoc Atlantique Tourist Office.
Guillaume Bonnaud / SO
Inevitably, “tourism is the main economy of Lacanau, with the ocean and the beach as the main attractions, then come the lakes,” explains Nicolas Jabaudon, the general manager of the Médoc Atlantique Tourist Office.
After seven months of being open seven days a week, working between 10 and 12 hours a day… We’re going to take stock and then take a breather.
Thus leading some to say that the town is nothing more than a seaside resort. “Lacanau without tourists is a village,” says Eric, the owner of the fishmonger Le Tramail, a Canaulais “forever”. “There is only one butcher, one baker, one fishmonger, one PMU, one mini-market left… Shops which, in themselves, keep a small town alive.”
“Lacanau doesn’t really become a village again in winter,” Nicolas Jabaudon cautions. “In ten years, the town has grown and there is still some tourism. Around 70% of the homes in Lacanau are second homes,” or 6,733 out of 9,413 according to INSEE. “Depending on the weather, mainly on weekends when people from Bordeaux come, people come and go.”
Surf lessons
In this sense, the seasonal wings do not sound the death knell for Lacanau’s activity. On her spreadsheets, Jeanne Courtaud, reception manager at the Lacanau Surf Club, one of the main surf schools in the area, lists the number of lessons given in recent days. “In August, between group and private lessons, we welcomed around 150 people per day for around twenty lessons, not counting equipment rentals… We employed 13 people full-time and 4 part-time. Now, there are only eight of us; and we welcome between 15 and 20 people daily,” she explains.
In September, we lose the tourists, mainly foreigners, but we find many more Canaulais at the club, and especially school groups
“We lose the tourists, but we find the Canaulais, and especially the school groups on Wednesdays when we hold classes for about fifty middle and high school students,” she concludes. The ocean, however, never waits for tourists.
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