And if, rather than a museum or a zoo, you visited… a company? Haribo Or Perrierin the Gard, Airbusin Toulouse (Haute-Garonne), or even Fragonard perfumeries, in Grasse (Alpes-Maritimes), for example. In recent years, industrial tourism has been far from filing for bankruptcy: according to a survey by the Enterprise and Discovery Observatory, which works for the development of this new kind of cultural offer, 20 million curious people have pushed the doors of a company, in France, in 2022. This is 40% more than three years ago . Over the same period, the number of companies offering to discover their know-how jumped 75%. They are around 3,500 in France. On the occasion of the publication of a new Backpacker’s Guide devoted to company visits in Occitania, 20 minutes asked specialists why industrial tourism was so popular.
For Armelle Solelhac, the founder of Switch, an agency specializing in marketing and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) strategies in the tourism sector, if so many of us like to push the doors of companies, it is, first of all, to discover “behind the scenes” of products that we are used to consuming. This is perhaps what explains, in large part, the rise of industrial tourism in recent years, at a time when manufacturers are asked to be as transparent as possible. “We all want to understand what we eat, what we drink, what we wear as clothes, what we drive as a car”, continues Armelle Solelhac.
“I still wonder how there are companies that don’t do it”
In Perrier, in Vergèze (Gard), for example, we learn how the Bouillens spring has been delighting bubble lovers for more than a century. In the cellars of Roqueforts Company, in Roquefort-sur-Soulzon (Aveyron), we discover the attention given to these blues, which divide the palaces so much. And to the Tuffery workshop, in Florac (Lozère), the oldest jeans manufacturer in France, we can see with what passion the team makes pants by hand. Moreover, “it’s been 130 years” that this small family factory has been open to the curious, confides Julien Tuffery, who took over, with his wife, Myriam, the continuation of his father and his uncles. “Since I was 6 years old, and I do my homework after school, I have always seen people, he recalls. There was already a desire to show. And when we arrived in 2016, it was obvious to us that we had to put the customer in the middle of the workshop. I wonder how, still, there are companies that don’t. It is a powerful tool. For the notoriety of the workshop, of course, but also to show how sincere the Tufferys and his team are in their approach.
“Companies show what they do and how they do it,” continues Armelle Solelhac. There are also real exchanges with the employees. There are, in particular, many questions about the products that are used, and even about carbon emissions or social issues. By visiting a company, one almost has the impression “of participating in the manufacture of the products, and not of staying at the door, like a simple consumer, confides Emmanuelle Bauquis, editor of the Backpacker’s Guide on company visits in Occitania. It’s a way to get to the other side of the barrier. And then, industrial tourism is “what’s happening now”, continues Armelle Solelhac. Whereas in most museums, we are only dealing with a bygone past. “When you visit Peugeot, you discover concept cars, which will become, tomorrow, real vehicles, notes this expert. That, of course, is very exciting. »
“For some companies, it is a crucial issue to create desire”
Of course, you can’t always see everything. While some companies are happy to let the curious push all the doors, others only offer them a well-defined path. And sometimes far from the factories where everything is at stake. “But this does not come from a desire for opacity on the part of companies, but rather for reasons of safety and hygiene, assures Emmanuelle Bauquis. In a cookie factory, it’s still better if you don’t bring your germs. »
Of course, in many industrial sites open to visitors, the economic issue is central. It is necessary that the curious leave with a good image of the companies. And with a bag full of food, it’s even better. But that’s not always the case. “Some companies do not offer sales, or even tastings, notes the founder of the Switch agency. There is no commercial objective, but rather the transmission of know-how. For some small businesses, it is even a crucial issue to inspire young people. It can be very inspiring, for young people, or for people who want to retrain, to discover how it all works. »
Visits are “tremendous sources of employment”
At the Tuffery jeans workshop, in Lozère, the visits, which attracted around 3,500 curious people this summer, are also “tremendous sources of employment” for the company. “All my hires are spontaneous applications, and half of them come from people who had made this visit”, explains Julien Tuffery.
But if industrial tourism has experienced a particular boom in recent years, it has, in reality, always existed, assures the editor of the Backpacker’s Guide on company visits in Occitania. “But we didn’t really realize it!” smiles Emmanuelle Bauquis. When you go to a cellar to buy wine, and talk to the winemaker, when you go to a farm, with your children, to buy cheese, where it is made… All that , it is already industrial tourism. »