As if nothing had happened on this sunny Thursday, happy holidaymakers are enjoying the off-season on the charming Darse beach in Villefranche-sur-Mer (Alpes-Maritimes), near Nice. A quiet tan but a not insignificant horizon: Viking Sky, an imposing cruise ship for 930 people, is at anchor straight ahead, a few hundred meters away. Event. It is only the second of the year since the resumption of stopovers, in September, in this municipality which had welcomed 97 for 222,683 passengers in 2019 and only one last year due to the health crisis.
By November, 20 additional ships should stop in the sublime harbor with very deep waters to disembark their eager visitors from the Côte d’Azur. “Anglo-Saxons and Nordics in smaller boats than usual but more premium companies” we welcome at the town hall. Something to put a smile on the smiles of traders who have been weaned for too long, in their eyes, from this maritime tourism, which is also decried. The economic windfall of cruises represented, before Covid-19, a significant part of their turnover, 430 million euros in revenue and 2,450 jobs in 2017, in the Paca region alone.
Between 30 and 40% of the usual filling
Émilie was waiting for this resumption of the cruise business on a firm footing. On her stand, which offers small artistic souvenir paintings of her creation, she is jubilant. “It’s a good surprise, we were warned last week. I don’t have too much stock right now. There are guides who bring passengers to us, it prevents them from taking the bus to go elsewhere. With the absence of the boats, I had to find another activity and go to markets in other towns,” she confides.
This return, very badly seen by the defenders of the environment, will however remain relatively timorous in the coming months. The gauges on board are currently limited to between 30 and 40% of the usual filling. According to the CCI Nice Côte d’Azur, which manages the port of Villefranche-sur-Mer, but also those of Nice and Cannes where stopovers have also resumed, the return to normal is not expected before… 2023.