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IN BRIEF
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At the heart of the tourist season, the mayor of Lacanau, Laurent Peyrondet, has revived the debate on the “institutional millefeuille” in Gironde. By targeting the departmental agency Gironde Tourisme, deemed redundant and not visible on the coast, he argues for a simplified organization centered on the Region and intercommunalities. The agency’s president, Karine Desmoulin, on the contrary, defends a mission of engineering aimed at territorial solidarity and raising the quality of the offer. Behind the harshness of the exchanges, issues regarding the distribution of the tourist tax and the departmental additional tax, the application of the NOTRe law, and the balance between a strong coastal area and a less equipped hinterland are at stake.
Laurent Peyrondet’s statement comes at the season report of the OTI Médoc Atlantique, which covers an area ranging from Lacanau to Verdon-sur-Mer. For the elected official, the accumulation of organizations – municipalities, intercommunalities, Department, Region – dilutes responsibilities, doubles communication actions, and muddles the destination’s visibility. He emphasizes a more streamlined configuration: a single office at the scale of Médoc, directly supported by the Region, to clarify management and increase market presence.
The message is direct: tourism, according to him, is not a priority competence of the Department. He believes that it should concentrate its resources on its mandatory missions, while the promotion and development of tourism could be better orchestrated by the Region, intercommunalities, and municipalities. On the coast, he points to a presence he deems too discreet from Gironde Tourisme, citing a lack of sufficiently visible “concrete actions”.
A stack of actors at the heart of the criticisms
The argument is based on operational efficiency. With a budget of about €4.5 million, financed at nearly 80% by the tourist tax, and about sixty seasonal workers in summer, the OTI Médoc Atlantique already has significant weight in the Girondin ecosystem, while many neighboring offices operate with more modest budgets. Hence the idea of pooling coastal and wine activities under a single banner, to combine notoriety, diversify income, and simplify visitor pathways.
Local tax pressure at the center of the debate
Funding fuels irritation. The departmental additional tax (a 10% deduction from the tourist tax) represents, at the scale of the Médoc Atlantique intercommunal area, an annual flow of around €300,000 to €400,000. However, on the ground, coastal elected officials say they perceive few direct returns. At the Department level, this tax generated about €1.89 million in 2024, for a total tourism budget close to €2.18 million. Only a portion of this budget goes to the Gironde Tourisme agency, while the rest funds other actions managed by the community.
The Mayor of Lacanau sheds light on the tourist “millefeuille” of Gironde: the response from Gironde Tourisme
In response to the criticisms, Karine Desmoulin, president of Gironde Tourisme and mayor of Teich, reminds that the agency is not primarily a promotional tool, but an arm of engineering. Its missions focus on supporting projects, qualifying the offer, and observing markets, with a priority given to less attractive or less endowed territories than the large ocean resorts. This logic of territorial solidarity aims to correct structural imbalances, by strengthening the hinterland and emerging destinations.
On the Médoc coast, the president reminds of tangible actions: certified Tourisme & Handicap providers, Accueil Vélo establishments, and wine tourism actors integrated into the Vignobles & Découvertes network. However, she emphasizes the contraction of resources: an action plan decreased from around €500,000 in 2021 to nearly €250,000 expected in 2025, for a team of about twenty collaborators. The budget trajectory, she says in substance, has reached a floor that is difficult to compress.
The paradox of regretted funding
In this face-off, a paradox emerges: to qualify the agency as useless while lamenting the decrease in its financial support. The president warns against a strictly promotional view of tourism, at the risk of forgetting the discreet but essential structure that includes data, quality enhancement, and the dissemination of good practices, particularly in terms of accessibility and soft mobility.
The Mayor of Lacanau sheds light on the tourist “millefeuille” of Gironde: what does the law say?
Since the NOTRe law (2015), tourism is a shared competence. The Region, the “leader,” defines a strategy to which Departments, intercommunalities, and municipalities are invited to adhere. For Departments, intervention is not mandatory: they can choose to act – by directing their budget toward targeted actions and engineering agencies – or to refocus on their mandatory fields (social, colleges, roads). It is in this space of interpretation that friction arises: what added value does the departmental level bring, concretely, to already strong coastal destinations?
The financial mechanism adds complexity: the departmental additional tax exclusively supplements the tourism budget of the Department, but it finances various lines, including a subsidy to Gironde Tourisme. In times of constraints, the arbitration between engineering, promotion, reception infrastructure, and security is more challenging than ever.
Beach plans: a blind spot turned point of tension
Another sensitive issue: the withdrawal of the Department from financing beach plans, now assumed by municipalities and intercommunalities. These arrangements, designed to organize secure reception in a given coastal area (access, signage, rescue, compatibility with recreational uses), significantly weigh on local budgets. For coastal officials, the transferred burden adds to an already strained budgetary environment.
The Mayor of Lacanau sheds light on the tourist “millefeuille” of Gironde: political and territorial stakes
The confrontation takes on a political dimension. Laurent Peyrondet, a MoDem elected official and president of a well-structured intercommunal office, clashes with Karine Desmoulin, a socialist mayor and head of a constrained departmental agency. It also reflects territorial power dynamics: a dynamic coast with high visitation facing less-endowed areas that rely on the departmental level for development. Between a strategic Region and operational intercommunalities, the Department seeks its rightful place.
In a national context where economies are being targeted, every euro of tourist tax and TAD becomes a subject of arbitration. The question raised is less about the existence of a level than about its added value: where does it operate better? In which territories? With what outcome indicators?
Toward a unified Médoc banner?
Among the proposed avenues is the idea of a single office for Médoc – combining coast and wine region – which appeals for its promise of visibility and mutualization. Such a banner could enhance the coherence of the destination, articulate the seasons (coastal, wine tourism, nature, cycling), and smooth activities beyond the summer peaks. However, it requires clear governance, shared objectives, and fine articulation with the regional strategy.
Comparing to decide better: other territories under the microscope
Elsewhere, territories are testing complementary pathways. On the Breton coast, the reflection focuses on a unified coastal strategy that blends attractiveness and preservation. Over in Avignon, the “back to school” tourist season is accompanied by close monitoring of cultural attendance. Albi presents a unifying heritage narrative, while the Vallées du Clain seek balance between nature, quality of life, and gentle itineraries. Even the niche of sports tourism confirms the interest of precise targeting, capable of lengthening the season and anchoring local benefits.
Engineering, observation, quality: often invisible pillars
Beyond posters and campaigns, the observation of flows, the upgrading of standards, accessibility, and mobility durably shape a destination’s competitiveness. Labels like Tourisme & Handicap or Accueil Vélo, and networks like Vignobles & Découvertes, contribute to this enhancement of quality. The question is therefore not just “who speaks louder?”, but “who equips the territory better to welcome, guide, and retain?”
The Mayor of Lacanau sheds light on the tourist “millefeuille” of Gironde: what the numbers reveal
The data summarizes the equation: a robust OTI Médoc Atlantique (€4.5M budget, 80% from the tourist tax, about 60 seasonal workers), a Department with a controlled tourism budget (€2.18M), a TAD that generates €1.89M but does not fully return to the departmental agency, and beach plans now at the charge of local authorities. In addition, there is a reduction of the action plan of Gironde Tourisme (from ~€500,000 to ~€250,000), which reduces the capacity for intervention on the ground.
For the visitor, these debates are invisible. But they determine the quality of the reception, the clarity of the offer, and the coherence of the messages. For the actors, they delineate the dividing line between what pertains to immediate marketing and what requires long-term development and engineering work.
